Background: The gap between puberty and marriage is widening. Among Egyptian women aged 35 years and older, 3.3% have never-married.
Objective: The current study was carried out to assess the type and frequency of nonpenetrative sexual activity among a sample of never-married Egyptian women.
Patients and Methods: A total of 300 never-married women, aged 18–39 years, were the participant of this study. Their sexual activity and related matters were surveyed using a self-report questionnaire designed by the authors.
Results: Overall, 45% of women described their degree of arousal as ‘somewhat difficult.' Romance novels were the most common cause of sexual arousal (58%). After arousal, only 18.7% reported that they release their sexual tensions by masturbation. Guilt feelings were the cause that prevented 80% of women from masturbation. Indulging in a romantic relation was admitted by 27% of the sample. This relation most commonly was in the form of speaking on the phone or chatting on WhatsApp with a male partner. Admission to the presence of a romantic relation was more common in rural living women.
Conclusion: Sexual arousal was most commonly caused by romantic novels in our sample. After arousal, masturbation may be the method of releasing tension, as physical contact with members of the opposite sex seems to be rare.