Sex Around the World

Robert W. Griffith, MD

The New York Times of April 10 carried an article on the enjoyment of sex, which included information from an important survey - self-estimations of sex from 29 countries around the world - that may shatter some established stereotypes, and reinforce others. The survey, Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors, was conducted by Edward O. Laumann , Department of Sociology, University of Chicago , with the assistance of researchers world-wide.

The survey concentrated on subjective sexual wellbeing - emotional and physical satisfaction with partnered sexual relationship, satisfaction with sexual health and function, and the importance of sex as a part of life as a whole.

Among the surprises:

1. The top 7 countries for experiencing sexual pleasure: Men: USA 73%, Canada 71%, Mexico 69%, Germany 63%, France & Britain 61%, Italy 43%. Women: Canada 68%, USA 65%, Mexico & Germany 57%, Britain 56%, France & Italy 32%.

2. Top 7 countries for emotional pleasure: Men: USA 77%, Canada 74%, Mexico 72%, Britain 71%, Germany 69%, South Africa 65%, Brazil 61%. Women: USA & Britain 68%, Canada 63%, Mexico 62%, Germany 60%, Israel 55%, France 53%.

3. Top 7 countries for importance of sex: Men: Brazil 75%, South Korea 73%, Turkey 70%, Israel 64%, Mexico 59%, Italy 58%, Philippines 57%. Women: Israel 53%, South Korea 46%, Brazil 43%, Egypt 40%, France 39%, Mexico 37%, Italy 33%.

North America comes out fairly high in the first 2 questions, without attaching too much importance to the whole thing. The 'Latin Lovers' countries don't rate as highly as one might expect. And the 'no sex please! - we're British' should be pretty pleased with the results (although they don't seem to attach much importance to sex, either).

The study investigators drew three general conclusions. First, despite substantial cultural variations, results were fairly consistent across world regions. Second, women were, in general, less enthusiastic than men. And third, subjective sexual well-being was correlated with overall happiness in both men and women. If you have time and are still interested, I suggest you read the New York Times article, or the study report.

Source
HealthandAge Blog

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