Czechs satisfied with their sex life, despite having less sex
Czechs are satisfied with their sex life despite having sex significantly less frequently than they did a decade ago. That is the main message to come out of a survey carried out by the National Institute of Mental Health. It also shows that dating in Czechia is increasingly moving online.
This week, the National Institute of Mental Health presented the first preliminary results of a major research, called CZECHSEX, focusing on the sexuality of the Czech population, which was carried out at the end of March among nearly 6,700 respondents both online and through face-to face interviews.
The main, and perhaps the most striking outcome of the survey is that Czechs are having significantly less sex than 11 years ago, the last time a similar study was carried out. Kateřina Klapilová, head of the Institute’s Centre for Sexual Health and Interventions, puts the number in a wider context:
“This result looks like a huge difference, because indeed the frequency of sex with another person once a month is in sharp contrast to previous data, which showed two to three times of sexual activity with a partner per week.
“However, in our survey, it's really a population prevalence, meaning that we counted people who are currently single and who have never engaged in sexual activity, or not in the past year.”
For people in a long-term relationship, the average frequency was 5.7 times per month for men and 5.6 times for women, which is still a drop on the previous survey, but not such a blatant one, explains Ms. Klapilová:
“We're seeing a significant change in the composition of the population, so we're seeing a greater proportion of people in older age groups, where the frequency of sexual activity is lower. And then we also observe a larger proportion of people not having sexual activity in the youngest age cohorts, from 18 to 25 year-olds.”
According to the CZECHSEX survey, Czechs most often have five sexual partners in their lifetime, which is similar to statistics in neighbouring countries.
It also found that seven percent of the population, nearly 740,000, identifies with a non-heterosexual orientation. The most common non-heterosexual orientation is bisexuality/pansexuality, affecting more than three percent the population.
One of the most alarming findings of the study is the number of people who were coerced into sex by threats or violence, reported by 17 percent of women and five percent of men. What is even more shocking is that the vast majority of those people did not report this to the police, says Ms. Klapilová:
“More than 40 per cent of the reasons for not reporting were that the persons did not assess it as sexual coercion or sexual violence at the time. The second most common reason was shame, then of course other familiar barriers such as fear of being found out, stigma, fear of retaliation.”
The Czech Institute of Mental Health is now working on a more detailed analysis of the data, which will be gradually published on their website.
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