Yet another myth bit the dust this week. A survey carried out by independent market research consultants Nextplora exposed the sexual habits of Italians. Acting on a brief from Akuel, a company that makes condoms and other pharmaceutical supplies, Nextplora interviewed a sample of 944 men and women between 18 and 35 years old. The result, it seems, is that Italians are not the hot stuff in the bedroom that we have always been lead to believe or some of them like to boast they are! In fact, more than half (54%), declared they preferred traditional sex to anything else. They do not use any sex toys and only one fifth have used massage oils while even less have ever bought lubricants. Very few resort to any kind of stimulation with only 16% (mainly young women) having tried vibrating rings, 11% stimulating gel and, despite Sex and the City, a meagre 1% used vibrators.
The condom is the most popular form of anti-contraception and they are usually bought in pharmacies or supermarkets. With safety firmly in mind, of those who habitually used condoms, 42% said they always carried them with them and 60% stated they would not have sex without them. For those few bold enough to buy sex toys, they opted for the anonymity of the web, automatic distributors and sex shops for their purchases.
Despite this rather unimaginative picture of what goes on between the sheets in Italy, a grandiose 88% of those surveyed said they were happy with their sex lives and a little over half of them confessed they were sexually active and had sex more or less every day or at least 2 or 3 times a week.
So perhaps the situation isn’t all that bleak after all, maybe just a little boring.
