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SCMP Reporter

When it comes to romance, we Hong Kongers are a pallid lot. If you can believe the global sex survey carried out by London International, manufacturers of Durex condoms, we are, typically, uninspired lovers.

 After interviewing 10,000 sexually active people over 16 in 14 countries, the survey concludes Hong Kongers come last in almost every aspect of love-making.

 We don't get much practice; according to the survey we make love only 77 times a year, which places us in second-last place, just edging out the shy Thais who manage to indulge a mere 69 times.

 And when Hong Kongers do work up the enthusiasm for a ration of passion, then it's all over and done with in a whippet-quick 12.3 minutes.

 The survey contends we only have an average of 3.2 sexual partners, which places us bottom of the promiscuity league. On the other hand, in my opinion, it makes us the most faithful of societies recorded, which may not sell as many condoms but which helps build a solid and decent family society.

 Compared with other countries, we are chaste and modest indeed. The survey results and interpretations show other nationalities rollicking sexually like rabbits on amphetamines.

 Americans, it shows, have an average of 14.3 sexual partners, more than any other country surveyed. They had their first sexual experience at 15.8 years (we waited till we were 19) and have sex 148 times a year (second only to the French with 151 encounters). Americans took 25.3 minutes per bout, twice as long as our brisk pace between the blankets.

 But there is a more serious side to the survey - the prevention of the spread of HIV and AIDS.

 John Lam, area manager for Northeast Asia of London International, is anxious to take sex out of the closet and get it discussed openly.

 The survey on sexual activity was linked with World AIDS Day.

 He has done his best to get results known to as many as possible, not just to sell more condoms, he insists, but as a community service.

 Good for him. Sex education is one area in which we coy Hong Kongers lag behind the rest of the world.

 We should be telling our children about both the joys and responsibilities of love and sex, while reminding them of the possible deadly consequences.

 Mr Lam argues, and I agree from what I have learned from medical evidence, that the use of condoms is the best protection from fatal infections, apart from abstinence.

 But too many sex-education classes are boring and uninformative. The lecturers manage to take the hint of salacious fun out of sex, which is some achievement. 'That's why they are unsuccessful educators,' Mr Lam says.

 I am prepared to accept the results of the survey, which was carried out by professional research teams in such countries as Australia, Russia and France.

The answers were compiled by a London research house called Feedback which, Mr Lam says, 'is well experienced in conducting research on sexual attitudes and behaviour'.

 In Hong Kong, about 700 people were questioned. What intrigues me is what they were asked, and how.

  Mr Lam says those interviewed were a cross sample of Hong Kongers by sex, age and marital status.

 Some were approached randomly in the street and asked to fill in forms, which encouraged honest answering and minimised embarrassment.

 The survey has some solid use. The AIDS awareness summary shows that 97 per cent of people know you can catch AIDS through sex, and 96 per cent realise a condom offers protection.

  Equally heartening are indications that young people aged 16 to 19 both know about safer sex techniques and practice them. But strangely enough, older people are more complacent, showing that wisdom does not necessarily come with maturity.

 Rather sadly, the survey asked people of all nationalities who they wanted to go to bed with. For men, Demi Moore heads the list of sexually desirable partners, all of whom are actresses.

 Women questioned fancy actors Brad Pitt and Mel Gibson, although - and this says something about racial differences - Russian ladies want to get their hands on Bruce Willis.

 Nowhere on this top list of desirable bedmates appears 'my wife' or 'my husband'.

 It is no coincidence that the glossy local version of the Durex global sex survey resembles the Government's annual policy address. John Lam wanted it that way.

 Indeed, Mr Lam at one point pondered the concept of using a likeness of the Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, holding up a copy of the survey on sexual activity with a voice balloon shouting out: 'I follow the basic law!'  The imaginative businessman who wants everyone to use latex protection when they indulge in sex had second thoughts; perhaps that could be deemed too provocative.

 Instead, he put out a vivid red, white and black poster strikingly reminiscent of Cultural Revolutionary art in which workers, soldiers, peasants and Red Guards stand united and wave - not the Little Red Book of Mao Thought - but packets of condoms and copies of the survey.

 'Rise and come together,' the slogan on the poster reads.



Serious side to sex