SIGHTINGS


 
Unprotected Sex Rampant
Around The World - 20%
Have No Concern About AIDS
9-23-98
 
 
PARIS (Reuters) - Nearly one in five people -- and men more than women -- have sex without worrying about AIDS, according to a sexuality survey of people in 14 countries released Tuesday.
 
A fourth of the 16 to 19-year-olds surveyed are not concerned about the virus and three in 10 of them failed to use any form of contraception the first time they had sex.
 
These factoids and other statistics peppered a report released by the world's largest condom manufacturer Durex, which surveyed some 10,000 people between the ages of 16 and 45 in 14 countries worldwide.
 
The countries surveyed include Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, the Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand and the United States.
 
The survey ranked Australians, French, Russians and Americans as the most sexually-active populations, jumping in bed with their partners at least once every three days.
 
Of everyone surveyed, almost half -- 47 percent -- did not use contraception during their first sexual encounter.
 
The youngest in the bunch, again the 16- to 19-year-olds, use condoms more frequently than those in other age groups. Some 62 percent had used the latex device in the past three months, while only 39 percent of 30- to 39-year-olds had done so.
 
The youngest ones also tended to start having sex younger than the more advanced generations and overwhelmingly think sex-education should be taught in school to kids by the time they are 14.
 
On average, 16- to 19-year-olds from most countries became sexually active before turning 16.
 
People in all age groups started having sex at an average age of 17.6. Americans were the most precocious, having sex at as early as age 16.3, up slightly from the previous year's 15.7.
 
French and Canadian respondents said they became lovers at 16.6 years old, while Germans on average said they had waited until age 17.4.
 
The Asians surveyed, from Hong Kong and Thailand, also waited until age 19. These groups reported the highest satisfaction rate for the first-time experience: 67 and 68 percent respectively.
 
Nearly a fourth of the 16- to 19-year-old bunch would rather share the "birds and the bees" with their mothers, but only 14 percent had succeeded in doing so. Some 21 percent would prefer talking to Dad about it, but only five percent had succeeded.
 
Everyone surveyed had heard of AIDS but not necessarily other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), such as chlamydia, which can cause sterility in women.
 
More than half of all respondents -- 65 percent -- worry about the idea of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but nearly one in five -- 17 percent -- had no fears at all, many because they do not consider themselves in high-risk categories.
 
Durex conducts the exhaustive sex survey annually.





SIGHTINGS HOMEPAGE