Sex

The Rutgers Nisso Groep has conducted an extensive population survey to assess sexual health and care needs in the Netherlands. I have read about it in a newspaper and naturally was very curious to know more! I have read the report and was very surprised and sometimes shocked by some results.

One in seven women do not enjoy sex. One in seven! That’s a lot! Twenty five per cent of men and women have experienced feelings of guilt about their sexual behaviour. Guilt?! Unfortunately the report does not give more information on that point. More than a quarter of all women is not satisfied about the look of their sexual organs. Ehm… Something to do with expectations? And anyway… eh… whatever!..

There is a lot sexual violence going on: one third of women and one in twenty men say they have been victims of some sort of sexual aggression (verbal violence excluded) at some time in their lives. The definition of sexual aggression is very broad and the researchers say that according to their broad definition more than half of women have been victims of some sort of sexual aggression. I suspect this is still ok comparing to Ukraine. I’ve never been raped and verbal violence doesn’t count, but I’ve been a victim to things in between more than once. But back to the Netherlands: twelve per cent of women and nearly three per cent of men have at one time been raped. 12%!!! Ok, here is the good news for me - women and men younger than 35 years old are more at risk of experiencing some kind of sexual aggression!

Here in the Netherlands people lose their virginity quite late: men in their 19th year and women in their 18,3. I was younger than that.

The respondents are evenly spread over the categories ‘1 or 2’, ‘3 to 5’, en ‘6 to 20’ sexual partners up till now. A little more than 10% has had more than 20 partners. So if I want to feel special and fit in this group, I need to… Hmmm… By the way, high educated women have more often than low educated women more than ten partners.

3,4% men and 2,2% women has at least once received money in exchange for sex. YES, it’s not a mistake! Men receive money for sex MORE OFTEN than women! Even here women get paid less (often)!

75% of all men and only 50% of all women find sex important. 50% of all women don’t think sex is important?! Hey girls, if sex is not important, then what is?! Yeah, kids blah, but how did you get them?

Both men and women find lust more important and intimacy less important now then in 2006 when the last similar research was held. It seems we head for hardcore, intimacy can wait.

Women buy condoms less often than men and about 40% (more women than men) finds it difficult to buy condoms in a shop. Do I fit in this 40%? I find it extremely difficult – there is so much choice nowadays!

And finally 42% of men and 22% of women thinks that it’s men’s responsibility to carry condoms with them. Emancipation?

And here is an interesting interpretation of sex:


Timeline: 1980 – I remember watching the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 1980 in Moscow on TV. It was such a great show! Breathtaking!