There is no right amount of desire – only the amount that is yours. This test looks at where your sex drive sits, what switches it on and off, and whether it's a good fit for your life and your relationships. Spontaneous, responsive, shifting or quiet – every pattern counts.
A way of looking, never a diagnosis. No judgment, no grade.
More about this quiz
Written by Andrea Leijon, Founder of Temple
A sex drive test should tell you something more useful than a number. People search for it in different words – sex drive test, libido test, desire test, even "am I hypersexual" – and most of them are asking the same thing: where does my desire sit, why does it behave the way it does, and does it fit the life I'm living? The research gives a steady answer. There is no single right level. Sex drive, a person's general sexual motivation, varies widely between individuals, and it moves within the same person with sleep, stress, hormones and the state of a relationship. What also differs is how desire starts. Some people feel it out of nowhere, which is called spontaneous desire. Others feel it once touch, closeness and safety are already in place, which Rosemary Basson described as responsive desire. The dual control model from Erick Janssen and John Bancroft at the Kinsey Institute adds that each of us has an accelerator and a brake for sexual response, and that both vary from person to person. This test turns those ideas into eight everyday moments and places you in one of four patterns – the Wildfire, the Ember, the Tide or the Pilot Light – with what that could mean for your own desire and for the people you share it with. It is a lens for reflection and makes no diagnosis.
Ask ten people how strong their sex drive is and you will get ten answers, most of them shaped by comparison. The research is clearer than the conversation. In a meta-analysis of 211 studies and more than 620,000 people, men on average reported a stronger sex drive than women, a medium-to-large difference (g = 0.69) that shrank to 0.54 after adjusting for biased responding (Frankenbach et al., 2022). An earlier review reached a similar conclusion (Baumeister, Catanese & Vohs, 2001). But averages describe groups. Inside any group, individuals sit across the whole range, and most of what shapes your daily experience is not gender at all. It is sleep, stress, hormones, mood, the relationship you are in and what you were taught desire should feel like.
People who type "hypersexuality test" into a search bar are often after reassurance: is something wrong with how much I want sex? The best available evidence says high desire and hypersexuality are different things. In a study of 1,998 Croatian men, only 4 men were in both the highest-desire group (70 men) and the group meeting hypersexuality screening criteria (57 men), and, compared with the rest of the sample, the hypersexuality group showed more depression, sexual boredom and substance-use consequences while the high-desire group differed only in holding more positive views of pornography (Štulhofer, Jurin & Briken, 2016). ICD-11 guidance on compulsive sexual behaviour disorder points the same way. It describes a persistent failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses over an extended period (for example six months or more), with marked distress or impairment, and it says that a high sex drive without loss of control and distress should not be diagnosed, nor should distress that comes only from moral disapproval (Kraus et al., 2018). This test is not a screening tool for any of that. If sex or pornography feels out of your control or leaves you distressed, a sex therapist or psychologist can assess it properly.
For couples, the level of desire matters less than the gap between partners and what the two of you do about it. In 133 student couples, a larger desire gap went with lower sexual satisfaction for women and lower relationship satisfaction for men, and the authors suggest looking at how the partners interact rather than at one person's low desire (Mark & Murray, 2012). Among 229 people in long-term relationships, strategies that involved the partner – talking about it, doing something together – were linked to higher sexual and relationship satisfaction than handling it alone (Vowels & Mark, 2020). Temple's test is built around this: your result is where you sit, and what that could mean when you meet another rhythm.
The research in numbers
What you'll discover
Key concepts
Spontaneous desire
Desire that arises on its own, without a touch or a setting to set it off – often felt as a thought, an urge or a sensation in the body that seems to come from nowhere.
Responsive desire
Desire that shows up after intimacy has begun – after touch, closeness or the right setting. Described by Rosemary Basson, it is a full and common way to want, not a lesser one.
Dual control model
A model from Erick Janssen and John Bancroft at the Kinsey Institute: sexual response depends on a sexual excitation system (the accelerator) and a sexual inhibition system (the brake), and people differ widely in both.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a libido test?
In the everyday sense, yes. People type "libido test", "sex drive test" or "desire test" and mostly mean the same question: where does my desire sit, and why does it behave the way it does? Temple says desire and sex drive because they are broader than a clinical "libido" and don't suggest a dial stuck on high or low. The test gives you a pattern – Wildfire, Ember, Tide or Pilot Light – and it is an educational tool, not a medical test.
Is this a hypersexuality test?
No. It cannot diagnose hypersexuality or anything else. Research treats high sexual desire and hypersexuality as different things: in one study of 1,998 men they hardly overlapped, and ICD-11 guidance says a high sex drive on its own is not a disorder. If sex or pornography feels out of your control, keeps getting in the way of things you care about, or distresses you, a sex therapist or psychologist can assess it properly. That conversation is about distress and control, never about how much you want.
What is a normal sex drive?
There is no clinical standard for a normal level. People vary widely in how easily they are sexually excited and how easily they are inhibited, and in large groups both show close to normal variability (Bancroft et al., 2009). What matters more than the level is whether it fits what you want for yourself and, in a couple, what you want together. If it doesn't distress you, it is normal for you.
Do men have a higher sex drive than women?
On average, yes. A meta-analysis of 211 studies found a medium-to-large difference in sex drive between men and women (g = 0.69, or 0.54 after adjusting for biased responding), in line with an earlier review by Baumeister and colleagues. But averages describe groups. Inside each group the spread is large, so your own drive can't be read off your gender. Many women have a strong, spontaneous drive, and many men have a responsive or quiet one.
What is the difference between spontaneous and responsive desire?
Spontaneous desire arrives on its own: a thought, an urge, a pull in the body with no trigger. Responsive desire arrives after something has started – touch, closeness, an unhurried evening – and the wanting follows the contact. Rosemary Basson proposed that, for many women in long relationships, desire often follows the start of intimacy instead of leading it, and research on men in long relationships points to something related. Both are full ways to want, and many people move between them.
Can my sex drive change over time?
Yes, and it often does, within weeks as well as across life stages. In one study, each extra hour of sleep went with 14% higher odds of partnered sex the next day in women (Kalmbach et al., 2015). Desire peaked around mid-cycle in young women with natural cycles (Roney & Simmons, 2013), and among men who had experienced stress or anxiety, sexual interest rose for about 1 in 5 and fell for more than 1 in 4 (Bancroft et al., 2003). If your desire drops suddenly and stays down, or changes after a new medication, see a doctor.
What if my partner and I want different amounts of sex?
It is one of the most common differences in couples, and what you do about it matters more than the gap itself. In 133 student couples, a larger gap predicted lower satisfaction, and the authors suggest looking at how the two of you interact rather than at one person's low desire. In another study, strategies that involved the partner were linked to higher satisfaction than handling it alone. Start by seeing it as a difference in rhythm, and agree on what a "not tonight" can sound like without stinging.
Does a low sex drive mean something is wrong?
Not by itself. A quieter drive is a full place on the spectrum, and there is no amount that counts as right. It is worth a conversation with a doctor or sex therapist if it distresses you, came on suddenly, or started after a medication or an illness. In a study of 5,255 men, 14.4% reported a distressing lack of sexual interest lasting at least two months in the past year, and professional stress was the most common reason (Carvalheira et al., 2014). Dips are common and often have a nameable cause.
How does the test work, and how accurate is it?
Eight short questions about everyday moments – a free evening, a hug that lasts a few seconds too long, a stressful week – place you in one of four patterns drawn from the dual control model and from research on spontaneous and responsive desire. It is an educational lens and not a validated clinical instrument, so treat your result as a starting point for reflection or for a conversation with a partner. Your answers can be different in a month, and the test is worth redoing.
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Explore the course →Informed by Bancroft and Janssen's dual control model, Basson's model of responsive desire, the 2022 meta-analysis of sex drive by Frankenbach and colleagues, and ICD-11 guidance on compulsive sexual behaviour disorder.