The recession is affecting the sex lives of British men, a survey suggests.
The poll makes grim reading for macho males worried about work with news that women are as demanding as ever and do not care at all about how stressed their men are.
The survey quizzed more than 500 people and discovered men were dreaming of taking on less problematic partners.
Kate Copstick, owner of The Erotic Review and author of Sex In The Recession, said relationships are suffering across the country.
“Self-esteem is vital for a man to be on top form,” she said.
“We are seeing a real epidemic of anxiety-related issues which will be causing many a bedroom bust up.
“Women appear to be less than understanding – and refuse to lower their maintenance levels both financially and sexually.
“They don’t find ‘losers’ attractive.”
Single respondents said they were going out less in the current climate and were more likely to look for a partner at work or on the internet.
Answers to the questions showed some startling differences between the sexes.
On a scale of one to five with one the most attractive, no men thought they were hot stuff. But eight per cent of women thought they were in the most attractive category. Despite men usually being depicted as the less romantic sex, they were much kinder about their partners than women.
While 45 per cent of men described their current partners as being in the most attractive category only 15 per cent of the fairer sex said the same about their man.
With one being “not at all” and five “very very much”, 52 per cent of men said their woman was a “four” when it came to high maintenance and 91 per cent of men agreed to being terrified about maintaining their beloved.
A whopping 94 per cent of men said they were extremely concerned about work problems rocking their sexual confidence.
And 78 per cent confessed to really fretting about trading their missus in for a lower maintenance model.
All the men polled admitted – in varying degrees – to thinking that paying for sex would be better value for money during the recession.
On the flipside, no women surveyed believed they were very high maintenance.
And a huge 36 per cent of women thought they were not high maintenance whatsoever.
A man’s ability to maintain a woman during the recession was listed as “four” by 41 per cent of women on the “one – not at all” to “five – very very much” scale.
All the women agreed that a “loser” could not be attractive during the recession.