Taiwan's Women Not Getting Enough

According to recent reports, Taiwan's women are not sexually satisfied. This might account, at least partially, for Taiwan's low birthrate, which is anywhere from 2nd lowest to 5th lowest in the world, depending on whose stats you're looking at. As it is, Tawian's birthrate is at around 1.2 if you count transnational marriages; these marriages account for around 20% of all the babies being born in the country today. It's much lower than that if you want to disregard the "foreign" effort, some say even .91. To sustain a healthy rate of population growth, it needs to be around 2.1.

Here's a taste of what some of the foreign papers are saying about Taiwan:

a.) Chicago Tribune (April 19, 2006): "Survey of 29 nations shows male-centered cultures least satisfied, finds that the most sexually-satisfied are 1. Austria, 2 Spain, 3. Canada, 4. Belgium, 5. U.S.A. and the LEAST SEXUALLY SATISFIED are: 1. Japan, 2. Taiwan, 3. Indonesia, 4. China, 5. Thailand."

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/06/060419.sex-ct.html

The study quoted here is further detailed in the April 2006 of the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior:

"In relationships based on equality, couples tend to develop sexual habits that are more in keeping with both partners’ interests. Male-centered cultures where sexual behavior is more oriented toward procreation tend to discount the importance of sexual pleasure for women.

The study, which was intended to draw out people’s subjective evaluation of the role of sex in their relationships with partners, included questions about how physically or emotionally satisfying their relationships are and how important sex is to them. They also were asked about their overall happiness; physical and mental health circumstances, including sexual dysfunction; their attitudes toward sex; and their attitudes toward various social and demographic factors, including age, education, income and religious affiliation.

This is the first large-scale international study to include large numbers of respondents from diverse religious traditions, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and other Asian religions, and atheists. A particular focus is on the impact of aging, health conditions and socio-cultural context on sexual well-being.

At the beginning of the interview, respondents were asked if they were happy with their lives as a whole. The study found that subjective feelings of sexual well-being are strongly correlated with overall happiness for both men and women across all of the countries studied. Other findings of the study include:

Across all of the countries studied, there are large gender differences in sexual well-being. On average, men reported at least 10 percentage points to their sexual health and well-being above the percentages that women reported.

In Western nations, two-thirds of men and women reported their sexual relationships were satisfying, and 80 percent said they were satisfied with their ability to have sex. About half of the men and one third of the women said sex was extremely or very important in their lives.
In Middle Eastern nations, 50 percent of men and 38 percent of women found their sex lives satisfying. About 70 percent said they were satisfied with their ability to have sex. Sixty percent of men and 37 percent of women said sex is an important part of their overall lives.
In East Asian countries, only about one quarter of men and women reported physical and emotional pleasure with sex, while two thirds of the men and half of the women reported satisfaction with their ability to have sex. Among men, 28 percent said sex was important to them, while only 12 percent of the women did."

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060419.sex.shtml

b.) At National Public Radio (April 21, 2006): "Global Sex Survey: Satisfied in the West," reports that "Israeli women placed the highest value on the importance of sex - the lowest score came from women in Taiwan. Among men, Brazil scored the highest and Thailand the lowest" and "overall, people in Austria are most satisfied with their sex lives, and Japanese are least satisfied."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5355494


In Taiwan's media, one does not have to look long to find a story on foreign men "running amuck in Taiwan with 'its women'." Usually, the take is that we are immoral, oversexed, lacking in family values, disloyal, hairy barbarians. Articles that take into account what is laid down by NPR or the Archives are rare.