“A survey of sex therapists concluded the optimal amount of time for sexual intercourse was 3 to 13 minutes,” according to a 4.08 AP story by Megan K. Scott. “The findings, to be published in the May issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, strike at the notion that endurance is the key to a great sex life. If that sounds like good news to you, don’t cheer too loudly. The time does not count foreplay, and the therapists did rate sexual intercourse that lasts from 1 to 2 minutes as ‘too short.”

I wonder what the editors of the Journal of Sexual Medicine would have to say about Kate Winslet‘s two coupling scenes in Revolutionary Road — one with Leonardo DiCaprio, the other with costar David Harbour. My recollection is that neither man lasts longer than 15 or 20 seconds. We’re meant to understand, I think, that both have had their vitality sapped from living in arid suburbia. Or maybe director Sam Mendes just wanted these scenes over quickly.