# Can libido be quantitatively measured?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-libido-be-quantitatively-measured/365721>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 23, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-libido-be-quantitatively-measured/365721 "2006-07-23T17:24:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nmbnmbnm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d6d6ee/32.png) [@nmbnmbnm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nmbnmbnm)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-libido-be-quantitatively-measured/365721/1 "2006-07-23T17:24:06Z")

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According to this website I found, not yet, but this was a year ago:

[http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6928](http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6928)

What I mean, is it possible to put everything on a scale where the persons with the most active sex drive could be a 100 and asexual persons could be a 0? Without resorting to questionnaires where I believe men would be more likely to exaggerate their sex drive and women to under-report. Is their something chemical that could be measured? I thought it would be interesting to compare qualitatively, if possible, how libido varies with age, ethnicity, various income levels, regions, and religion. I seriously doubt that this much data is available, but I can wish can’t I?

Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-libido-be-quantitatively-measured/365721/2 "2006-07-23T17:26:43Z")

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In general, people with higher testosterone levels will have higher sex drives. But there are so many other factors coming into play that you’d be hard-pressed to guess a person’s sex drive given their testosterone levels.

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-libido-be-quantitatively-measured/365721/3 "2006-07-23T21:38:15Z")

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Arousal is not the same as libido. Arousal can be quantified in some ways; libido relies on self-report.

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-libido-be-quantitatively-measured/365721/4 "2006-07-25T11:34:53Z")

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I would say a fairly good guide for men would be number times masturbating + number times sex per day.

So teens probably 2-3 decreasing down to 0-1 in middle age