In the latest scientifically dubious but cheaply entertaining survey to make news around the Internet (see also, America’s Fattest Cities, America’s Worst Drivers, America’s Biggest Cheaters), Lubbock has finished first on the dating website Chemistry.com’s list of “The Top 10 Cities That Value Sex the Least.”
Schenectady, New York was second.
As Brittany Hoover of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported, the survey purports to measure “the largest and smallest concentration of singles who value sex as an essential part of a relationship.”
The survey involved an estimated 10 million users of Chemistry.com, who take a personality test when joining the site, ranking a variety of statements about dating and relationships as “not at all important, not very important, somewhat important, important or very important.”
The test is based in part on anthropologist Helen Fisher’s categorization of people as either “builders,” directors,” “negotiators” or “explorers.” Fisher told the Hoover that Lubbock had a lot of “builders,” who tend to be “traditional, conventional, cautious and methodical.”
Texas Tech communications studies professor Narissa Punyanunt-Carter speculated that the survey was in line with Lubbock’s values, telling Hoover:
We have a lot of individuals that … value marriage, and I think the idea of premarital sex and types of sexual issues are ranked low for most couples because other things are higher, like values and beliefs.
Eight of “The Top 10 Cities That Value Sex the Most” were in California. No other Texas cities were on either list—in stark contrast to The Daily Beast‘s Valentine’s Day slideshow of “America’s Horniest Cities,” which had Austin #1, as well as Dallas and Houston in the Top 10.
