Unfaithfully Yours
March 23, 2004
While the economy flounders, unemployment rises and the political system seems wrought with problems, at least Germans can take heart from their loving and stable personal lives in the midst of such turmoil. On average, Germans have sex 120 times a year, meaning that they put aside their troubles and get some good lovin' almost every third day.
However, the façade of togetherness has been blown apart by a recent study by condom manufacturer Durex which reveals that every third German has cheated on his or her partner at least once and an equal number are dissatisfied with their love life.
In search of greener grass
In the study that polled more than 10,000 Germans, 36 percent of women admitted to having played away from home on occasion while, 30 percent of men confessed to making hanky-panky with someone other than their significant other. The study also showed that as Germans get older, the chances that they will stray from the fold increases. By the age of 35 every second German has had sex outside of their relationship.
The Durex survey also showed that Germans wanted more from their sex lives. Almost 45 percent said that they wanted to have more spontaneous sex while 43 longed to be more experimental. Going through the motions also seemed to annoy the Germans with 38 percent wishing their partners would put a bit more imagination into their performance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 37 percent of the men said the answer to their problems would be just more sex.
Unprotected sex
However, infidelity and routine is -- so to speak -- just the tip of the iceberg. The Durex study also highlights a dangerous practice amongst German adults where one in five had unprotected sex with a new partner last year in spite of the continuing menace of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transferable illnesses.
A worrying 19 percent of the women and 22 percent of the men admitted to unprotected sex with someone whose sexual history they knew nothing about, while in the most carefree age group of 21-to 24 year-old, every fourth person said they'd not taken precautions with a new partner.