Most Chinese unsatisfied with sex lives
By Xu Xiaomin (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-09 05:53

SHANGHAI: When it comes to their sex lives, Chinese are among those who "can't get no satisfaction."

Chinese are among the groups that are the least happy with their sex lives, according to the 2005 Global Sex Survey results released yesterday by Durex condom company.

Only 22 per cent of Chinese surveyed said they are satisfied with their sex life. On a global scale, 44 per cent of all adults claim to be happy with it.

The research claimed that Greece is officially the most amorous country with the Greeks having sex 138 times a year well above the global average of 103.

The annual survey covered more than 317,000 people from 41 countries. The company claims it is the world's largest survey on sexual attitudes and behaviour.

However, Hu Hongxia, managing president of the China Ancient Sex Culture Museum, does not agree with the results.

Hu worked alongside the famous sex culture expert Liu Dalin in a sex report in 1990 which covered 20,000 people in 15 provinces. Hu said according to their research, the rate of sexual satisfaction shouldn't be that low.

This is the fourth year that this survey has been carried out through the durex.com website. All the respondents filled out the questionnaires on their own initiative instead of being chosen randomly.

Since 2000, China has been in the survey list. This year, a total of 89,018 Chinese people responded to the survey.

But Li Feng, director of the Health Education Department of the School of Public Health of Fudan University, said the results hold some truth.

"For a long time, Chinese society didn't consider their sex lives as an important criteria of living standards," he said. "Because of lack of attention, some sexual diseases or psychological problems have not been handled effectively which would truly affect the ability to enjoy sex."

The results on sexual health are not satisfactory. About 18 per cent of Chinese said they have suffered one STI (sexually transmitted infection); about 17 per cent said they got pregnant at the age of 18 or even younger; more than 51 per cent of people said they had unprotected sex.

Chinese also had the second lowest number of sexual partners at 3.1 while the global average is 9.

China is the only country in which some respondents stated that formal sex education was not necessary, according to the survey.

"It is urgent to strengthen sex education in China," Li said. "Now in China, the number of HIV carriers increases at 30 to 40 per cent every year. Without more education about sexual health, what would happen in the future?"

The government does require sex education to be a mandatory course in middle schools. "But actually, few schools implement it according to the regulation," Li said.

(China Daily 11/09/2005 page2)