Posted on 11/26/2001 9:21:51 AM PST by veronica
The collective Israeli libido has risen over the past year, placing Israel among the most sexually active countries on earth, according to the just released 2001 Durex Global Sex Survey. Not surprisingly, Israelis also rated love-making as their favorite pastime.
The survey, which covered 28 countries worldwide, was conducted among 500 Israelis by the condom manufacturer.
It found that Israelis make love on average 110 times a year, up from 105 times during the previous year. This places Israel in the top league of lovers, ahead of Britain (107), Germany (105) and Holland (94), but still lagging behind the United States (124).
Israelis also rated having sex as their favorite pastime. Some 23 percent of adults declared that love-making was their top leisure-time activity, while 20 percent preferred socializing with friends, and 13 percent would rather watch television.
Israelis would most like to make love on a beach or in a jacuzzi, spa or hot tub. While 10 percent of Italians would enjoy sex on the kitchen table, this was the preference of just 3 percent of Israelis.
Might be why Germans seem so grouchy at times?
I could have pointed out that any survey that positions love-making as a variant of leisure is flawed on methodological grounds. Instead of "splitting hairs," however, I would just say that anyone who claims that any of the Mediterranean people are only 3% more vigorous than the Brits must have never been to Europe, made love, or conducted a survey.
British have polished the idea of representation in government. This is a great gift to the world. But when it comes to love-making, you have to head South and search until you reach the warm waters of the Mediterranean.
Well, it is a clever title.
This half-Italian American seconds that. I also find it interesting that Jewish chicks, particularly Israeli Jewish chicks are so hot to trot. Maybe I should spend more time around Kew Gardens/Forest Hills next time I/m back home in NYC. :-)
Gives a new meaning to gourmet dining...
I think that you've been reading too much Freud, madrussian; reliance on terrorism, I am afraid, stems from the atrophy of other organs --- of the breain and of the heart.
Arab Feared Secret: AIDS
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Seven months ago, this 38-year-old engineer thought about AIDS -- if he thought about it at all -- with pretty much the same attitude as many others in Egypt and across the Arab world. ``All I knew about it was that it kills patients in a day or two at the most ... and that it hasn't reached Egypt and only foreigners can suffer from AIDS,'' the engineer said.
That was before he was diagnosed with AIDS. Now, he says he would rather kill himself than tell his secret. He won't allow his name to be used for fear of being rejected by family and friends who think of the disease as synonymous with sin and shame.
The Egyptian engineer's reluctance to speak out is typical. In other places in the world, sports heroes and film stars have spoken publicly about having HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- as a way to educate the public. But in the Arab countries, silence remains the norm.
As does ignorance. Some strict interpretations of Islamic prohibitions against premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality, coupled with stern conservative traditions means that publicly discussing sex -- let alone educating people about it -- is taboo.
Many argue that Islamic strictures on sex will protect Arab countries from an AIDS epidemic. But experts say the number of cases in Arab countries is far greater than reported. In Egypt, the United Nations estimate of HIV-positive cases is nearly 10 times the official number.
The engineer said that had he known how AIDS was transmitted -- he believes he was infected during homosexual sex -- he would have been more cautious. Nasr el-Sayed, director of the government's National AIDS Control Program, often encounters such ignorance. Even some doctors, he said, don't believe AIDS can strike in Egypt, with 65 million people the Arab world's most populous country.
``Some people refuse to even listen (to information) about the disease. 'We're good and religious people, what do we have to do with AIDS? This is for other people,' they argue,'' said el-Sayed, whose office was established in 1986, the year the first AIDS case was reported in Egypt.
Egypt's situation is typical of Arab countries. Saudi Arabia doesn't even have an official estimate of HIV-positive cases. In Yemen, the Health Ministry says the actual number is much higher than the 1,200 cases recorded in the year 2000. Jordan is trying to educate the public about AIDS, but ads and leaflets stop short of discussing safe sex.
Misconceptions about the disease persist even in countries where officials consider public awareness high. In Kuwait, people remain fearful of AIDS patients and do not want to mix with them, said Rashed al-Owaysh, the country's director of public health.
Experts worry that the inferior status of women in Egypt puts them at greater risk. Nassif said some women who are certain their husbands are having affairs still do not dare ask them to use protection or be tested.
``It's really tragic how women are unable to negotiate their own protection in wedlock or outside it,'' said Jihane Tawilah, the World Health Organization's regional adviser on sexually transmitted diseases."
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