The Survey

In our exclusive Men, Love & Sex poll, conducted by the national polling firm Harris Interactive, we surveyed more than 5,000 men and women, asking them some intensely intimate questions—and eliciting some remarkably candid answers. And what our poll found was that men and women in fact have extraordinarily similar desires: We all want true love, a good sex life (that includes quickies as well as long, slow afternoons and everything in between), and relationships that last longer than Labor Day weekend. What’s different about us—and therefore what makes it so hard for us to find happiness together—is that we do a terrible job of communicating with one another. Between the smoke signals, silent treatments, and gender-specific Morse code, it’s a wonder we ever get anything figured out, or get together at all.

In this survey, men talked. Boy, did they talk. They talked about love, insecurity, guy’s nights out, what they secretly want from you in the bedroom, their biggest gripes with relationships, what you can do and say to make them happier. They confessed the little things that destroy relationships, and they revealed what they’re scared of, what they’re nervous about, and—most of all—they came clean with the truth about why they truly love and cherish you.