Protection Racket

Condoms per minute and other odd Valentine's stats

February 14, 2007—It wouldn't be Valentine's Day without all those ads for chocolate and diamonds—and a flurry of dubious new studies purporting to offer numerical insight into the state of modern romance. We'll leave the former items up to you, but here are a few of our favorite recent items from the latter category.

Percentage of women who claim that if their dog was a man, they'd want him as their boyfriend: 34
(Source: American Kennel Club)

Percentage of married mothers who'd rather spend Valentine's Day alone than with their husbands: 51
(Source: Momjunction.com)

Percentage of people who judge a prospective date by his or her cell phone: 6
(Source: Cingular Wireless)

Percentage of people says that it's okay for two people who just met to have sex so long as they "know each other's last name": 11
(Source: Virgin Mobile USA)

Number of condoms used per second in America on Valentine's Day: 87
(Source: LifeStyles Condoms)