By : Annie Freeda Cruez
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian youth are involved in sexual activities
before the age of 20.
A national study in 2004 involving 18,805 people (10,718 females
and 8,087 males) revealed that the median age they had sex for the
first time was 23.
The majority of the study group was Malay (56.4 per cent) followed
by Chinese (20.6 per cent) and Indian (11.2 per cent). Out of the
18,805, the majority (72.8 per cent) was married.
Male respondents confessed to experiencing sex at the minimum age
of 10 and median age of 22 and females at 12 and 24
respectively.
The overall median age of marriage was 23 Chinese (25 years),
Indians (23 years), Malays (22 years), Sabah Bumiputera (21 years)
and Sarawak (20 years).
Professor Dr Lekhraj Rampal of the Department of Community Health,
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Universiti Putra
Malaysia said: What is of concern is the fact that among the
13,971 respondents who had experienced sex, 38.2 per cent said they
had sex before the age of 20.
The age factor, he said, clearly indicated that those who had sex
early were college students and young workers.
Malaysians are now becoming very open when it comes to talking
about sex. The unmarried and married talk about sex and its time
sex education be given emphasis and the public made aware of
healthy sexual behaviour, including using condoms to protect
against unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted
diseases.
He said as much as religion and culture encouraged sex after
marriage, it could not be denied that younger people engaged in
sexual activity.
Sexual behaviour, he added, was any action that allowed the
expression of ones feelings, including holding hands and kissing
as well as masturbation and penetrative intercourse (per vagina or
anal).
He said healthy sexual behaviours were consensual, non-exploitive
and honest, and included actions that protected against unintended
pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Presenting a paper on Sexual Practice in Malaysia at the two-day
conference on Sexuality in Medicine, organised by Universiti Putra
Malaysia and the Malaysian Healthy Aging Society at UPM, Dr Rampal
warned young Malaysians to be cautious when indulging in sex with
unknown partners.
The person, be it man or woman, may look healthy and sexy but you
do not know whether he is a HIV victim or suffering from venereal
disease or sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Get a blood test
done to ascertain if he/she is free from STD or use a
condom.
Dr Rampal gave this warning because in a survey done to find out
how much people knew about HIV and its transmission, the majority
of the respondents could not give the right answers to many of the
questions.
Dr Rampal also stressed that there was a need to educate the young
not to fall victim to non-consensual sexual experiences.
It covers a continuum of behaviours ranging from unwanted verbal
advances and unwanted touch to assault and forced sex as well as
sex in exchange for money, gifts, food or protection, he
added.
As for married couples, Dr Rampal said it was important for them to
understand how the body works.
source from
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/20071027084739/Article/index_html