Czechs curious & open-minded about sex at Erotica Fair

This weekend saw the culmination of a four-day erotic fair held in Prague for the 10th year in row. Primarily a trade-show for adult entertainment, Erotica Sex 2004, saw the usual assortment of X-rated stands hawking their wares: from clothes to adult films to jewellery, as well as a variety of strip-teases and explicit performances for adults only. While certainly not to everyone's taste, such fairs have proved popular in the Czech Republic, not just among professionals in the business, and sleazy hangers-on, but also among people who are just curious or maybe want to add a bit of spice to their lives. In that respect Czechs seem to be particularly liberal and open-minded.

Czechs curious & open-minded about sex at Erotica Fair

Drums thunder at Erotica Sex 2004, beckoning a fair-sized crowd to the podium for another strip-tease event, this time with a medieval theme. Knights clash in battle to win the affections of a scantily clad lass, no chastity belt in sight. It's not high art, certainly, but for what it is, it is reasonably well-done, enjoyed by the audience: many well-dressed young Czechs who have shown up either as couples or in small groups, not put off by the explicitness of what's on show.

One young woman says she and her friends dropped-by just to have a look. She came last year too, and would just like to try on some sexy outfits, and see a famous X-Rated star. Another said they were looking forward most to Paula Wild, or a new Brazilian starlet Priscila Sol, who gained a wide round of applause. One man had this to say:

"It's very nice. I've been here for two hours and I'm enjoying it."

Is it your first time at this kind of fair?

"Yeah, it's my first time. I think Czechs are very liberal and we like sex!"

Certainly, you have to, to attend this type of fair. Pornography and erotica have a place in Czechs' lives: a poll on Czech sex lives commissioned by a major daily last week showed that almost 60 percent of the population occasionally viewed adult films. And there's also a healthy market for erotic gear:

Erotica Sex 2004, photo: CTK

"We are a French designer making jewels for the body, both women and men. Intimate jewels that don't require piercing, for the sex or nipples, for women who want to wear jewellery for fun only, to have something to be sexy."

"The people are very, very interested in vinyl. We don't do latex - that's a very specialised product - but that's vinyl. We think that they have they an interest in fetish materials."

Ultimately, many of the visitors at Erotica Sex 2004 seemed to take the programme in stride as pure performance, like the couple I came across pushing their toddler round the show in his stroller. But not everyone wanted to talk on the mic. Were they shy? Perhaps just a little; but it seems more likely they were too busy enjoying themselves to take the time to talk.