International Survey Defines Attitudes on Sexual Practices
A fascinating survey was conducted by Eric Widmer, Judith Treas and Robert Newcomb of the University of California-Irvine (The Journal of Sex Research. 1998;35:349-358.) They surveyed attitudes on nonmarital sex in 24 countries.
The 4 questions asked were: (1) Is sex before marriage wrong? (2) Is sex before 16 years old wrong? (3) Is extramarital sex wrong? (4) Is homosexual sex wrong? The 33,590 respondents were allowed to choose one of four answers for the questions: always wrong, almost always wrong, only sometimes wrong, not wrong at all. Participants in the survey were, on average, in their 40's.
Premarital sex was the most accepted of these four types of nonmarital sex. On average, 61% of respondents across 24 countries agreed that premarital sex is not wrong at all. On the other hand, only 7% of respondents across the 24 countries agreed that there is nothing wrong at all with teenagers younger than 16 having sex. The countries most tolerant of both premarital and under 16 sex were East Germany, West Germany, Austria, Sweden and Slovenia. The most sexually conservative country on all four questions was the Philippines. Five other countries considered sexually conservative were the USA, Ireland,
Northern Ireland and Poland. The country most tolerant towards homosexuals by far was the Netherlands (not wrong at all, 65%, sometimes wrong, 12%). One explanation for this is that the Dutch Christian communities have redefined homosexuality from sin to a personal choice. Other explanations include the longstanding organization of the Dutch homosexual community, self-conscious pluralism and secularism of the Dutch people and candor and coverage of sexual topics in the Dutch media. Other countries tolerant towards homosexuality included Norway, the Czech Republic, Canada and Spain.Japanese frequently answered the question on premarital sex as wrong only sometimes, a unique response. This might be interpreted that the Japanese are favorable to premarital sex as long as it is done discreetly and does not interfere with one's social responsibilities. Also the Japanese tend not to choose extreme response categories. Another unique pattern against the grain was Russians' attitude towards extramarital sex: 21% responded that it was only sometimes wrong and 17% that it was not wrong at all (37% both responses).
Other countries that showed more tolerant attitudes towards extramarital sex and their percentages of both responses (only sometimes or not wrong at all): Bulgaria, 30%, Czech Republic, 30%, Italy, 20%, Hungary, 18% and Germany and Australia, 17%.
To focus on the conservative USA, 1447 people (59% female) of average age nearly 46 years old responded to the questionnaire. Americans were least conservative about premarital sex but not very much so: 29% answered always wrong, 12% almost always wrong, 18% only sometimes wrong and 41% not wrong at all. Only the Philippines was more conservative on this question. Responses towards under 16 sex were 87% always or almost always wrong; towards extramarital sex 94% always or almost always wrong; and towards homosexual sex 74% always or almost always wrong.
The authors unfortunately do not break down the data by male/female responses, which could show some important intersex differences in attitudes. Finally, I have written the authors to undertake a new survey of actual sex practices and compare it to this survey of attitudes. Then we can determine which countries rank highest on the hypocrisy scale!
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(c) Copyright 2001 BoundlessHealth.Com
Written by George Milowe M.D.