More money? More chance of sex at least once a week, Chinese online survey finds
Men account for more than two-thirds of purchases of adult products, according to study of thousands of internet users
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The more a person earns, the more likely he or she is to have sex at least once a week, according to a survey of thousands of internet users in China.
The finding was released on Tuesday in a report on the sexual activity of people born in the 1980s and 1990s, and based on a 10-month survey conducted jointly by Chinese online marketplace Yanxuan and adult product company TryFun – both owned by e-commerce giant NetEase.
The companies surveyed 4,000 people who bought products on Yanxuan, and 54 per cent reported having sex at least once a week.
The proportion of people having sex at least once a week rose with income, with 80 per cent of respondents from households with a combined monthly income of more than 50,000 yuan (US$7,260) a month reporting having sex at least weekly.
That weekly sex fell to just 70 per cent for people in households of over 20,000 yuan a month, and 60 per cent for those who earned between 5,000 to 10,000 yuan monthly.
We are the master of our own orgasms
Only 40 per cent of people in households earning less than 2,000 yuan a month reported having sex at least once a week, according to the report.
TryFun said most of its customers were from first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai but many were also from second and third-tier centres.
The companies also mined Yanxuan purchasing data for various products including condoms, lubricants and vibrators, finding that men accounted for 72 per cent of all purchases. The exception was vibrators, where women made 63 per cent of the purchases, the report said.
TryFun director Zhao Yong said the report was an attempt to better understand China’s younger generation, particularly those born in the 1980s and 1990s, and improve the public’s perception of adult products.
“We want to shake off the impression of adult products in China as ‘vulgar’, getting away from them looking cheap and low-level,” Zhao said.
Sex toys are generally associated with shops in shady alleyways and flashing neon signs, and sex is not discussed publicly or taught in schools.
But the situation is changing, with young people now more open-minded about sex and sex toys, according Fang Gang, a sexology professor from Beijing Forestry University.
“In the internet era, people are influenced by diverse values and culture, as well as information they obtain through multiple sources, not just by those who live around them,” Fang said. “It’s also due to the development of gender awareness and feminism.”
Wendy Sun, a 28-year-old Yanxuan marketplace user and frequent shopper, agreed, saying the younger generation was “more willing to express our needs as well as take control”.
“We are the master of our own orgasms,” Sun said.
