HONG
KONG: Sex experts are urging Hong
Kongers to strip off their reputation as some of the least active lovers in
Asia to get more out of their sex lives and overcome challenges of privacy in a
cramped city.
"People
say Hong Kongers have the least amount of sexual knowledge in the world. One of
the reasons is they have no place to have sex," said professor Emil Ng,
associate director at the Family Institute of the University of Hong Kong.
Financial
pressure, career-driven mentalities and limited space are seen as key drivers
of a fertility rate that is one of the lowest in the world by some measures,
with an average 1.04 births per woman according to the World Bank.
Ng, who
believes monogamy in general is "behind the times", thinks another
factor driving Hong Kong's sexual timidity is sky-high property prices.
Younger
Hong Kong residents typically live at home deep into their 20s or 30s because
they can't afford to marry and move out earlier, meaning that many sleep in
close proximity to their parents in cramped apartments.
"Hong
Kong is too crowded and lacks the privacy people need to have sex," said
Ng, who organised the fifth Hong Kong Sex Cultural Festival which took place
last month.
The
festival, held jointly by the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong and the
Hong Kong Sex Education Association, aimed to promote more liberal views on sex
in the socially conservative southern Chinese city.
And in
a sign that traditional Chinese attitudes towards sex may be changing, a record
number of visitors showed up at the recent 2012 China Adult-Care Expo of adult
wares in China's biggest city of Shanghai.
This
year's expo -- Asia's largest trade fair for the adult industry -- was the
biggest in the event's nine-year history, attracting thousands of visitors,
Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.
Under the covers
When it
comes to going under the covers, Hong Kong couples are content with having sex
less than twice a week, according to a 2011 survey published by City
University's Community College.
More
than half of the women questioned in the Hong Kong survey admitted feigning
illness or tiredness to avoid sex when they were not in the mood.
The
study of nearly 1,000 adults aged 36 to 80 showed that men were satisfied with
having sex an average of 1.9 times a week, while women were content with 1.6
times.
This
compares with the top rate of more than three times per week in Greece, more
than twice in India and less than once per week in Japan, according to British
condom manufacturer Durex, whose 2008 survey found Hong Kongers ranked third
lowest in the world in sexual confidence.
"Hong
Kong is always near the bottom of the list in terms of sexual frequency in
those Durex annual surveys. It may not be a very scientific research, but it
still says a lot about Hong Kong," said Ng.
A
similar Durex survey released last year also showed a decline in sexual
activity in China. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they were sexually
inactive, a 15-percentage point increase from 2006.
The
problem is worse for heterosexual women than for men in Hong Kong due to
cultural issues tied to status and wealth, and social expectations about the
role of women, said Dr Petula Ho, a sexologist from the University of Hong
Kong.
Making
matters worse for women, they vastly outnumber men in Hong Kong. There is less
than one man for every 1.2 women between the ages of 20 and 39, according to
official figures from last year.
"Straight
women in Hong Kong are in poverty in terms of sex. They have few sexual
possibilities and options. Even if you're a male truck driver, you can find a
woman in rural China," Ho said.
-AFP/ac
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