Lifestyle - 73% Indians happy with their sex life

Vineeta Pandey

NEW DELHI: People in the land of the Kamasutra are quite happy with their sex lives. A survey has revealed that 73% of Indian men and women are satisfied with their sex lives as compared to only 10% in Japan, 23% in China, 30% in Thailand and 52% in the Philippines.

However, the higher sexual satisfaction among Indians was linked to “lower expectations” from their partner. “If your sexual expectation is low, then you can be satisfied easily,” said one of the researchers of the survey and sexual health physician Dr Rosie King of Sydney Centre for Sexual and Relationship Therapy, Australia.

Sexual satisfaction was also strongly associated with overall physical health, love and romance. “In India, adults who are less satisfied with sex are also less likely to be satisfied with life,” said andrologist Dr Rupin Shah of Lilavati Hospital.

However, in India discussion about sexual experience was still a major concern among couples.

Sex plays a more important role for men than women. Indian men ranked sex as one of the top priorities in life, 7th out of 17 life priorities, women placed it at the 14th spot.

Family life emerged as the most important aspect of life for both Indian men and women. Other priorities were marriage, health, career, parenthood and financial well-being.

Problems with less than optimal erections were more common in 40-plus Indian men but one-third of men below the age of 40 also had such problem.

Better sex was associated with better relationships, better self-image, higher life satisfaction, and better overall physical and mental well-being. Men with sub-optimal erections were less satisfied with sex and their overall wellness while men with optimal erection had a more positive outlook and demonstrated greater levels of satisfaction in other aspects of life like family, health, parenting and financial well-being.

“A good erection is kind of magic wand,” said Dr Shah.

It was also found that men below 40 had a tendency to “overestimate their erectile adequacy.” During the survey only 46% women under-40 said that their partners had experienced optimal erections while 67% men in this age group reported optimal erections. There was a 27% gap between what women experienced and what men reported which lead the researchers to believe that Indian men “overestimate their erectile adequacy.”

The Asia Pacific Sexual Health and Overall Wellbeing (AP SHOW) survey was conducted by market research firm Harris Interactive and supported by pharmaceutical Pfizer that manufactures anti-impotency drug Viagra. The survey was conducted in 13 countries including India among 3,957 sexually active men and women between 25-74 years. About 400 Indians from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune were interviewed during the research