Fun and sex games in Venice

A Cape Town couple flew to Venice, Italy, on Saturday for a libidinous week representing South Africa at this year's Great Durex Sex Experiment.

Kirsty Cassidy Carpenter, 29, and her beau of five-and-a-half years, Michael Honeyman, 30, and another 25 couples from around the world, will have their sex lives put under the microscope.

The 2011 Durex Global Sex survey showed that more than half of people around the world were dissatisfied with their sex life. Only 46% of respondents said they were happy with it.

Now, thanks to former British Aerospace engineer Brendan Walker's expertise, Durex will measure the couples' pleasure, arousal and overall happiness, using heart monitors. The couples will be given various sexual positions and techniques to try out.

Durex said the experiment will help indicate "whether new lovers have more satisfying sex than those who have been together for years, whether blondes really do have more fun, and whether what they say about shoe size is true".

Couples from Russia, Serbia, Canada, Poland, India, Bulgaria, Greece and the UK are also taking part. All participants had to apply on durexperiment.com and answer questions about themselves, their partners and the importance of pleasing each other sexually.

The couple, who will marry in January, told The Times before jetting off that the experiment was not as lewd as some might think.

Was this a joint decision, or did one of you coerce the other into entering the competition?

Michael: Kirsty got the press release at work and she suggested it. We applied together, and we're fairly open to this kind of thing. Kirsty has written about our sex life [she works for Women's Health], so it wasn't a big deal.

Taking part in the experiment makes it sound like you guys have an enviable sex life, but surely even you have ebbs and flows?

Kirsty: We've experienced that, definitely. We're both on certain medication, so sometimes it might put a bit of pressure on us, but you have to work through it. And if one of us is not in the mood, we try to get each other in the mood. Lately things have been great.

So what do you do when you're in the middle of a dry patch?

Kirsty: He's always in the mood.

Michael: I'm very responsive to her needs so I will never push to get her in the mood. I know if I try hard enough she will get into it. But we never have a dry patch.

What's the craziest spot that you've enjoyed some coitus action in?

Michael: In a garage.

Kirsty: It's important not to confine [sex] to the bedroom because it can get boring.

Do you incorporate toys in the bedroom [or garage]?

Kirsty: Yes, we have used toys - we've tried larger vibrators, which don’t work for me, but I really enjoy the bullet ones.

What's the most exciting part about going to Venice?

Michael: It will be cool to meet other couples. I think culturally we all have different views on sex. In South Africa we're generally very conservative. It will be interesting to see where we rate.

How would you rate yourselves?

Kirsty: I'd say a 7 or 8.

Michael: Probably 8 [laughs].

Are you into pornography?

Kirsty: I wouldn't watch it alone, but if he wants to it's fine. Watching it together, that's exciting.

What about oral sex?

Kirsty: I don't really enjoy it. I enjoy going down on him but I don't see a need for it to be reciprocated.

Michael: She doesn't get much enjoyment out of it so we'd rather concentrate on something else.

Has size ever mattered to you?

Kirsty: No, it's more about what it can do. If it feels pleasurable, that's great. Mike is great [laughs].

Michael: It's all about girth, not length. I have an average penis size, and I'm not ashamed of that. I think guys always want a bigger penis. I think pornography is the problem - it creates the perception that there are guys with incredibly large and artificially enhanced penises.