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San Francisco (dpa) - Chalk up another point for equality of the sexes.
A survey on sexual satisfaction of middle-aged and older people around the world has found that people reported greatest sexual enjoyment in Western countries where equality of the sexes is greatest, while male dominated societies registered among the lowest scorers.
The Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviours published Wednesday by University of Chicago sociologist Edward Laumann surveyed 27,500 men and women between the ages of 40 and 80 who live in 29 countries. It concluded that couples who live in cultures where men and women hold equal status were most likely to report that their sex lives were satisfying, physically and emotionally.
"Male-centred cultures where sexual behaviour is more oriented toward procreation tend to discount the importance of sexual pleasure for women," Laumann said.
Laumann found that in Western nations, two-thirds of men and women reported their sexual life was physically and emotionally satisfying. About half the men and one third of the women said sex was extremely or very important in their lives.
Fifty per cent of men in Middle Eastern nations found their sex lives satisfying, compared with 38 per cent of women. Sixty per cent of men and 37 percent of women said sex is important.
In East Asian countries, only about a quarter of men and women reported satisfying sex lives. Among men, 28 percent said sex was important to them. Just 12 percent of women said it was important.
Austria topped the list of 29 nations studied with 71 percent of those surveyed reported being satisfied with their sex lives while the lowest satisfaction rate, 25.7 per cent, was reported in Japan. Spain, Canada, Belgium and the United States also reported high rates of satisfaction along with France, Sweden and Mexico.
Italians reported a medium level of satisfaction, placing them in the same category as Brazil, Israel and Turkey. Sexually conservative cultures in China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand reported the lowest satisfaction levels.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
