Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysians losing virginity at 19

KUALA LUMPUR: Nineteen years, three months and 18 days – that is the average age Malaysians are losing their virginity today, according to the 2004 Durex Global Sex Survey.

This could be considered “old” when compared to the global average of 17.7 years, but according to the survey, Malaysians start engaging in sexual intercourse at a younger age of 19.3 years compared to the average age of 20 in 2001.

The Icelanders are the youngest (15.7 years) to start having sex compared to other nationalities while the Vietnamese are the most patient (19.8 years).

Out of the 8,202 Malaysian respondents to the online survey, those below 20 even claimed that the average age when they first started “doing it” was 17 years.

Despite this trend however, Malaysians are among the oldest to receive sex education at 14.5 years together with the Indians (15 years) and the Vietnamese (15.4). The Germans, at 11.3 years old, are the youngest to be taught about “the bird and the bees.”

Some 30% of Malaysian respondents even claimed that they have never had any formal sex education.

While 69% of Malaysian respondents were concerned about HIV/AIDS and another 22% about unplanned pregnancy, more than a third (35%) of them, as well as those in the rest of the world, admitted to having had unprotected sex without knowing their partner's sexual history.

Most Malaysian respondents felt that parents and guardians (49%) and schools (30%) should be responsible for teaching sex education.

SSL Healthcare Malaysia (the manufacturer of Durex condoms) managing director Tim Evans said the increase in the number of Malaysian respondents from 5,645 last year to 8,202 this year showed that people were increasingly willing to talk about sexual issues and their particular likes and dislikes since the survey was done online. More than 350,000 people from 41 countries took part in what is reputed to be the world's largest survey of sexual attitudes and behaviour.

According to the survey, the French are having the most sex (137 times a year) while the Japanese are the least sexually active (46 times a year). In this respect, Malaysians are not doing too badly at 86 times a year compared with the global average of 103 times.

The survey also revealed that a woman's breasts (30%) were the biggest turn-on for men followed by a toned body (15%), her attitude and face (9% each), a nice bottom (7%) and beautiful legs (7%).

Women on the other hand were more charmed by a man's attitude (17%), followed by his eyes (14%), a toned body and chest (13% each), a good sense of humour (10%) and a nice smile (9%).