Hot Information

A public aid for private lives

At 8 p.m. the phone rings. An anonymous male is upset by his premature ejaculations. The woman who answers the call flips through her "quickie book," a loose-leaf binder rilled with sexual information, and makes some suggestions. On the wall above her desk hang huge diagrams of male and female genitalia. The phone rings again. "My husband wants oral sex," a woman asks nervously. "How do I do it?"

Answering such calls is all in a day's work for the 90 volunteers at the San Francisco Sex Information hot line, a free service established with foundation funds five years ago. Like its counterpart in New York City, in operation since 1971, San Francisco's sex hot line is dedicated to reassuring the sexually anxious, debunking myths and otherwise disseminating, so to speak, accurate information. "Sex is the only thing in life we're expected to do right the first time," says San Francisco Board Member Dossie Easton. "If we don't, there's little advice available."

Callers range in age from six to 90.

The most common question: "Am I normal?" Other callers query whether penis size is related to sexual satisfaction, if masturbation is damaging, whether oral sex is perverted. Asks one hot-line administrator: "Where is the sexual revolution we keep hearing about? People are as ignorant as they were 50 years ago."

The unpaid hot-line volunteers, ages 16 to 70, must be open-minded and prepared to refer problem cases to doctors and therapists. In New York, the 50 volunteers go through a ten-month training period, during which they are lectured by doctors on sexual behavior and taught counseling techniques. Many hot-line staffers have solved sexual problems of their own and work without pay, as one volunteer explains, "to help others find a healthy approach to sex."

Both New York and San Francisco hot lines advertise their services on bus or subway posters and receive about 1,000 calls a month. In New York, about 70% of the callers are male; in San Francisco, 60%. But the number of females is increasing. Says Easton: "Men used to call to ask why their wives couldn't have orgasms. Now the women call." In both cities voyeurs ring in occasionally with kinky requests, but for most people the sex hot line is no Dial-a-Joke.

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