yax-579 11% of Singaporeans have had gay sex

Yawning Bread. April 2006

11% of Singaporeans have had gay sex

Now that I've got your attention, I need to say that I'm not sure how reliable or representative that figure is.

It's a statistic from the annual Durex Global Sex Survey, which is now 4 years in the running.

In its introduction, the report said that 317,000 people in 41 countries were polled in 2005 for this survey; that's an average of nearly 8,000 per country. Unfortunately, it didn't say how many respondents there were in Singapore, but the introduction to the 2003 survey report said that in that year, the Singapore segment of the survey involved 2,691 participants. That's out of 150,000 globally. Since the 2005 total was more than twice that of 2003, one might therefore assume that in 2005, Durex probably had more than 5,000 Singapore participants.

I couldn't find any statement however as to how they obtained their sample, but I would say that if it was reasonably random, then given such a large number, it would not be too unrepresentative.

Neither did the report describe the survey method used, so yet again, we can't tell how much faith to put into the 11% figure.

What we can do is perhaps compare it to other countries, for Durex was likely to have used the same survey method in all countries.

Singapore's 11% figure for the statement "ever had a gay/lesbian homosexual experience" is somewhere in the average range. The highest figures came from Australia (22%), South Africa and the USA (both 20%). The lowest figures came from Japan (4%) and Taiwan (5%).

Ever had a gay/lesbian homosexual experience
Country	%
China	14
Hong Kong	6
India	6
Indonesia	8
Japan	4
Malaysia	10
Singapore	11
Taiwan	5
Vietnam	7
Source: Durex Global Sex Survey 2005, results for Asian countries

To many heterosexual persons, 11% sounds high. Partly, this is due to attempts by anti-gay lobbies from the US to fix the figure of 1 – 2% in the public mind.

These anti-gay lobbies, in their surveys, tend to ask people if they are exclusively homosexual and would declare themselves to be gay. Conceptually, this of course is very different from asking whether one has ever had homosexual sex.

Moreover, many of their studies involve face-to-face interviews even though it's a well-known fact that closetted gay and lesbian persons find it very hard to declare their sexual orientation in non-anonymous surveys. Alternatively, they are telephone surveys, but consider this -– would you tell a total stranger over the phone about any non-normative sex habits you have?

Still, anti-gay lobbies like such survey methods, because they give them the results (1 – 2%) that serves their political purpose of marginalising gay people.

* * * * *

Anal sex
(regardless of sexual orientation)

The same survey in 2005 also asked a question about anal sex. The percentage of Singaporeans who have ever had anal sex was 20%. This too was in the middle range among the 41 countries surveyed.

The highest figures came from Chile (55%), Italy (50% and Finland (49%). The lowest came from Taiwan (1%), India (9%) and Japan (11%).

Singapore's 20% tells us that anal sex is not as uncommon among heterosexuals as we might think. Somebody really should be doing a more in-depth study on this.

As you can see from the table above, most Asian countries have rather low percentages. Most Western countries, in contrast, have results between 14 - 22%.

Does this mean, homosexual behaviour is much less common in Asia?

I won't jump to any such conclusion. Much depends on what one means by "homosexual", let alone "gay" or "lesbian". My biggest concern with such surveys has to do with the phrasing of the question. There is no universal understanding of these words; in different cultural situations, people understand these terms in different ways, and any survey question that rests on these words is often critically impaired by these differences in meaning.

In Perspectives on males who have sex with males in Bangladesh and India, Shivananda Khan explains how concepts and language are framed by different histories and social constructions.

He points out that the term "homosexual" has no direct equivalent in Indian languages.There, the penetrator is not classed together with the person penetrated; they are two different gender categories [1]. How do people in this culture, which makes such a fundamental distinction between the penetrator and the penetrated, grasp the word "gay"?

And as for "lesbian", we need to recall how female desire is completely sublimated to procreative duty. Their own sexual autonomy is denied by culture [2]. In that case, what understanding can there be of the term 'lesbian'?

In conservative societies, women are not accessible to unmarried men, nor to married men seeking beyond their wives. The enormous, dammed up sexual tension among males then manifests itself in a lot of male-male behaviour. But is this seen as 'sex'?

Shivananda Khan explains that it seldom is. To begin with, in such a situation, "male sexual behaviour becomes self-absorbed, and is reduced to one of discharge rather than based upon a desire for the other person."

Indians tend to see male-male contact as "maasti" meaning "mischief". It is not real sex [3]. "Sex is between a husband and wife!" he writes.

So if you ask any of them if they have had a homosexual experience, don't be surprised if all those loitering at parks and railway stations, all the bellboys and roomboys at hotels who would gladly earn an extra tip, tell you, "No, never!", and mean it too.

Yet, in parts of India, sex is not even between husband and wife. A researcher in Orissa state recounted how he met with married couples who evidently had had children, yet they did not speak of having sex with each other. A typical husband described himself thus: "I do duty to my wife". The woman, in turn, spoke thus:, "I do work with my husband." [4]

The coital relationship is seen as obligation fulfilled. Duty and work, not sex.

Sex, to them, involves an element of physical desire. The men may describe their relationships with prostitutes as sex, but not their relationships with their wives.

How does one do sex surveys, using Western terminology, in such contexts?

* * * * *

Those of us who are familiar with traditional Chinese concepts will see a great deal of similarity. Chinese Confucianism was heavy on family duty and extremely strict about controlling female autonomy.

On the other hand, it was generally lax about who else the man "played" with outside of marriage. You'd notice that the Chinese tend to use the word for "play" in instances when they mean sexual contact. How different is that from "maasti"?

The first Westerners to reach China in the 18th and 19th Centuries wrote extensively, and with much shock, on how much "sodomy" they saw in the country.

To what extent have these old concepts been replaced by modern, Western concepts of sexuality? It's hard to say, but I suspect, not much. The first thing Asian societies absorbed from the colonisers and missionaries was how to silence any discussion of sex. Wouldn't this freeze old concepts in people's minds even as these countries acquire a modern gloss?

Does this explain the low percentages found in Asian Countries? Not that male-male behaviour isn't happening, but that it's not seen as gay or lesbian experiences, or even as sex? [5]

What to encourage young people about

Another question in the 2005 Durex survey was about what we should be encouraging our young people to do.

For Singapore,

Abstinence till marriage	24%
Practise safer sex	61%
Regular health check-ups	14%
None of the above	1%

Our Ministries of Health and Education are out on a crusade to press home abstinence, but 61% of Singaporeans think the most needed message to our youth is safer sex.

Unplanned pregnancies

We are in the top league of countries with unplanned pregnancies. To the question "ever had an unplanned pregnancy", Singapore's figures were

At age 16 and below	8%
At age 17 and 18	9%
At age 19 and above	15%

In the age category 16 and below, only China had a figure higher than Singapore, at 17%.

In the 17-18 age group, again only China had a higher figure, at 18%.

In the age category 19 and above, Singapore was in third place. China had 20% and South Africa had 17%.

I have argued elsewhere in Yawning Bread that abstinence campaigns don't work very well; they merely feed moralistic egos.

Footnotes

From Perspectives on males who have sex with males in Bangladesh and India, page 44:

The term homosexual does not have a direct equivalent in Indian community languages. This does not imply that same-sex behaviours do not exist. What it does mean is that these behaviours have different histories, different contexts, different social constructions and are thus framed by different identities. In terms of men who have sex with men, what language exists either reflect actual sexual behaviours, terms that are often extremely abusive and degrading, or identities based upon concepts of .not men.

Here the act of sexual penetration is a definer of phallic power. The person penetrated is defined as .not man., while the penetrator remains undefined. The Hindi tens gandu and khusra reflect this. However in some discourse they are often used synonymously with the term homosexual , but they are not the same They construct a person who is .not a man. and .not a woman., a third gender. The penetrator remains a man. Likewise, the term hijra, a socially constructed role for a group of men with religious and cultural significance, whose primary belief is around the religious sacrifice of their genitalia and who act as women in exaggerated sty les, has also been used to describe boys/men who are sexually penetrated. However, hijras are not transvestites, transsexuals, or whatever Western label has been given them.
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From Perspectives on males who have sex with males in Bangladesh and India, page 45:

Sexual behaviour takes the place of sexuality. Women.s sexual behaviour becomes controlled and marginalised, if not denied. Male sexual behaviour becomes self-absorbed, and is reduced to one of discharge rather than based upon a desire for the other person.

Because of this terrible silencing and denial of these histories from various ideologies, an almost total exile situation has emerged. In trying to resist this exile, a closeted and schizophrenic state of being has emerged where the person tries to assimilate into society through marriage and having children, yet expressing alternate sexual desires in purdah, in darkness, shame and in silence.
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From Perspectives on males who have sex with males in Bangladesh and India, page 45:

There is a construction around male sexual behaviours which can be defined by the Hindi word maasti. It means mischief, and is often used in the context of sexual play between young men and boys. More often than not this does not involve penetration. This maasti arises at moments of sexual tension, as .body tension., when sexual discharge becomes urgent, when sexual arousal arises during play or body contact, when opportunities are created for sexual contact, often under the blanket. Such opportunities are very frequent. Shared households in crammed conditions produce shared beds. There is social acceptance of males sharing beds, of male to male aftectionalism, both public and private. This often means that a significant amount of sexual behaviour occurs in family environments, between uncles and nephews, cousins, friends, and even at times brothers. This is not seen as real sex. It is maasti. Sex is between a husband and wife!
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From Perspectives on males who have sex with males in Bangladesh and India, page 45:

Marriage is the central issue. It is a compulsory duty, both family and community and is part of the definition of adult. It is a liaison between two families and to go against family decisions for whatever reason is to bring shame to the families. To remain unmarried also reflects upon the honour of the family.

Children and filial duty. Sex as a family obligation. As one person in a sexual health workshop in Orissa told me, .I do duty to my wife.. While women have often said .I do work with my husband.. The wife is seen as an Honoured Partner, as Mother and Sister. The husband as Lord. Marital sex as duty and as work.

Sex for pleasure is what occurs outside the marriage. And as long as this behaviour is invisible, it brings no shame and dishonour to the family. If women are not accessible then other men or boys will do . This is not desire but discharge. A cultural framework of compulsory procreative sexual intercourse.
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Then why does China have a 14% score? I wonder if this has to do with the fact that mainland China had the experience of overturning its old culture through most of the 20th century. There was a lot of taboo-breaking.
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Addenda

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