Posted on 11/14/2002 3:12:40 PM PST by blam
Sexless marriages 'rampant' in Asia
November 14 2002 at 11:33AM
Singapore - Sex education in Asia is hobbled by social, religious, and cultural barriers, with even university-educated couples not consumating their marriages because they don't know how, experts say.
There are also couples who believe a woman can become pregnant from mere kissing and cuddling, the experts attending an international congress on sexuality told a news briefing on Thursday.
The lack of sex understanding in Asia runs so deep, they want a regional strategy to address the problems.
"In the Asian context, there are more myths and misconceptions surrounding sexuality, which can contribute to dysfunction and family disharmony," said P Ganesan Adaikan, president-elect of the International Society for Sexual and Impotence Research.
'They don't really know how to perform sex' "In Asia, we have been covering these issues of sexuality under the carpet... Sexuality is a prelude to procreation, there is nothing dirty about that."
Adaikan describes the non-consumation of marriage as a "rampant" problem in Asia due to a variety of reasons, including impotence.
Another reason highlighted by therapists is ignorance on how to perform sexual intercourse even among young, married couples with a university education.
Chong Yap Seng, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the National University of Singapore, said that nine percent of people who see doctors in Singapore about sex problems complain about non-consumation of marriage.
Many are young couples with well-paying jobs and a good education.
'They just have kissing and embracing and they think this could be able to impregnate a woman' "Strangely enough, it is these people who actually are sexually naive," Chong said.
"We have couples who are university graduates who come to us and say that they want a consummation (of their marriage)," he said.
The common causes cited by the couples are erectile dysfunction and fear of sex, but "actually when you ask them what they are trying to do, they don't really know how to perform sex".
"At the first sign of discomfort when they try to penetrate, they stop," Chong said, adding this could go on for up to three years for some couples before they sought professional treatment.
The same problem was also found in Hong Kong and China, said Emil Man-Lun Ng, a professor at the department of psychiatry at the University of Hong Kong.
"We still see couples, very well educated, university graduates who still don't know what sexual intercourse is about," he said.
"They just have kissing and embracing and they think this could be able to impregnate a woman."
Adaikan said sex problems in a marriage tend to go untreated until the couples come under pressure from other family members to have a baby.
"So there is a lot of sex education that we have to do," said Ng.
"Since we share these problems among Asian countries, we need to establish a federation to exchange ideas and share resources throughout Asia."
Ng noted a gap between "the supply and demand for knowledge required to help people cope with their sexuality".
He proposed that Asian countries work out feasible solutions by sharing views and ideas and recommend joint efforts to deal with common problems. - Sapa-AFP
Send 'em to Bangkok for a couple of weeks. They'll learn.
America's Fifth Column ... watch Steve Emerson/PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
Forget Asia. What about the sexless marriages here!?..... :-\
This is a parody piece, right?
Right?
,,, there ya go. There's hope after all. It falls upon Ng to start the ball rolling.
E.g., if you try the search in WiseNut, you'll get a nice summary of the results at the top of the results page. Or you could try the search in Teoma. That sponsored link at the top might merit an upgrade to sulphuric acid ;). I see the same sponsored link on Google's results page. Hey — hands on the keyboard!
,,, yep, set up a UN Commission to cover this one. That will do it.
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