One-third of Indonesians want more sex

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

An online, global sex survey carried out by condom manufacturer Durex revealed that 31 percent of the Indonesian respondents said they wish to have sex more frequently, while only 34 percent of the total 1,112 respondents said they are happy with their sex lives.

This year is the first time the annual Durex Global Survey has invited Indonesian respondents. The survey attracted 1,112 Indonesians, of whom 923 were male and 189 female, all between 16 and 55 years old.

Durex has carried out the survey nine times, the last four of which were online through its website www.durex.com. The number of global respondents this year was 317,000 from 41 countries.

The Indonesian respondents claimed to have sex once every four to five days, or an average 77 times annually. The number is far below the global average, which is 103 times per year.

Indonesia is among the five nations that are at the bottom of the list. According to the survey, the least amorous lovers are Japanese, making love only 45 times a year, followed by Singapore (73), India (75), Indonesia (77), and Hong Kong (78).

The Greeks top the list at 138, followed by Croatians (134).

The survey also revealed that for Indonesian respondents, voluptuous actress Sarah Azhari is the sexiest woman here.

The average age of the first sexual experience for Indonesians is 19.1 years of age, above the global average of 17.3. Indonesia took third position after India (19.8) and Vietnam (19.6).

Apart from the bedroom, Indonesians said they preferred toilets (38 percent) as a place to have sex, as well as cars (35).

To enhance their sexual appetite, 44 percent of Indonesian respondents said the used pornography; 33 percent said they possessed erotic literature.

Indonesia, with an average 5.1 partners, was fifth from the bottom in terms of sexual partners respondents have in their lifetime. Immediately following Indonesia are Hong Kong (3.7 partners), Vietnam (3.2), China (3.1) and, at the bottom, India (3.0).

HIV/AIDS activist Baby Jim Aditya, who spoke during the press conference for the Indonesian survey result, said she suspected the numbers presented by the survey were still too conservative for Indonesia.

She said that based on her observations many Indonesians were both promiscuous and hypocritical.

"Once, I was really ashamed when an Australian photographer told me that his Indonesian male friends often invited him to hire prostitutes," she said.

"He told me that his Indonesian friends said they didn't like to wear condoms even when having sex with prostitutes," Baby said.

She added that many Indonesian pointed a finger at Westerners, saying that "free sex" was a Western characteristic, while in reality Indonesian people were more promiscuous.

The results of the survey also appear to indicate this hypocrisy.

Most Indonesian respondents (39 percent) suggested that developing countries should focus on encouraging people to abstain for sex until marriage.

The average age of first sex, however, is 19.1 -- clearly below the average age of getting married. On top of that, the average number of partners is 5.1 -- clearly far higher than the average number of people getting married during their lifetime.

Baby said that she often gave sex education at respected schools in Jakarta and found that on the face of it students seemed naive.

"But once, for example, after giving a one-hour sex education class at a school owned by a religion foundation, I received an SMS (cell phone text message) from a 16 year old boy who asked me about the signs of pregnancy. He was worried about his girlfriend, who claimed to be 'late'," she said.

Later, Baby said, this boy, who had had sex several times with his girlfriend, claimed not to have used condoms and simply "ejaculated on the girlfriend's pubic area".

She insisted that openness between parents and their children was crucial for sex education.

Many parents mistakenly thought their children were naive, she added.

Baby lamented that about 50 to 100 people were in two hospitals in Jakarta, suspected of having contracted HIV/AIDS.

She called for an end to hypocrisy and suggested parents be more open in discussing sex with their children.