While Vietnam Looks To The Web To Improve Sex Drive, Japan Blames The Web For Reduced Sex Drive

from the take-your-pick dept

Fri, Mar 16th 2007 6:33pm — Mike Masnick

Last summer, there was a somewhat amusing story about how a worried Vietnamese government was looking at creating special websites to encourage married couples to have more sex after studies showed that married couples weren't bothering to take the initiative themselves all that often. So it's quite interesting to see that over in Japan, they're facing the same problem, but rather than looking at a web-based solution, they're blaming the web. The Wired blog link there exaggerates a bit, as the original article blames busy working lives first, followed up by the "decline in physical communication skills in an increasingly Web-based society" second, but they still think it's a factor. It does seem amusing that looking at the exact same condition, one group blames the web while the other looks to the web for a solution. Of course, the two things aren't mutually exclusive. If it really is true that the use of the web is making people less likely to get it on, then perhaps using the web to entice married couples back into each other's embrace isn't such a bad idea. However, there doesn't seem to be much proof that it's actually the web having an impact either way. It certainly seems a bit far-fetched to think that people are willingly giving up sex for the excitement of the web, as I doubt there are that many people out there who would claim that the web is "better than sex."

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18 Comments

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Bumbling old fool, 16 Mar 2007 @ 6:43pm

Completely off topic
sorry for the OT, but I can't help it.

As a big time cisco hater (I don't believe in extortion as a business model), seeing the web-ex shilling on every page is downright annoying.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Mar 2007 @ 9:05pm

And here, all this time, I thought that web-base pr0n WAS sex...
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Frank, 17 Mar 2007 @ 3:15am

Re:
I thought that web-base pr0n WAS sex
I realize that this was made in jest ... but some feel that the jest is a bit close to the truth: given enough porn and it either reduces or redirects the sex drive.

I wonder how similar to alcohol it is -- given a little, it increases sexual activity; given too much and it reduces it (hard to make out when you're passed out).
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2007 @ 6:52am

Why blame aliens from outer space when you can blame everything on the web? Hell, you don't even have to wear a tinfoil hat.
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Anon Y. Mus, 17 Mar 2007 @ 7:21am

It seems like there are too many asian people already...but
I think that in a country like Vietnam you other worries,
like trying to live, eating...and the such.

Most of the "pretty women" in that region are usually
hookers...it pays better.
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hmm, 17 Mar 2007 @ 12:30pm

Re: Re:
I find it interesting that when I spend all of my time thinking about my wife, and not looking at other women, redirecting my attention when I see an attractive one, whether on a movie or billboard or in person, my sex drive is totally directed on her.
It increases my sexual appatite, and she notices it too. I find it actually helps my marriage, as opposed to checking out every girl or woman that walks by, which takes my attention away and points out the small (very small) flaws in my wife's physique.
When I save that sexual appatite for her, instead of stirring it up all day long, my sexual experience with her is more fun, more special and more frequent. I find myself doing those little extras that make her more likely to think of me when we go to bed, taking out the trash, doing dishes, all those things that she appreciates. It is easier to turn off the TV and listen, because I want to, I want her, and am not spending my time dissatisfied with her physique.
My wife actually asked me what was up, and when I told her, she melted. She knows I would never cheat on her, but loved the fact that I was saving my glances for her, and actually appreciates it when I look at her that way, knowing it only belongs to her.
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dorpus, 17 Mar 2007 @ 12:38pm

Asian sex cafes
To the contrary, the web is introducing new ways for people to meet up and ****. Asian cities are plastered with ads for web-based sex services. When I was at an internet cafe in Tokyo, which had private booths for 2 people, the couple next to us were getting in on and literally banging the thin metal wall. I heard him put on his belt afterwards.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2007 @ 1:43pm

Re: Re: Re:
Um....you can't be serious. Or maybe you're an alien?
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Cynical Opportunist, 17 Mar 2007 @ 3:25pm

Re: Re: Re:
LMFAO.

Seriously, grow some balls. There is nothing wrong with window shopping as long as you don't get caught sampling the merchandise.
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PT, 18 Mar 2007 @ 12:53pm

Re: Asian sex cafes
Yes, but I don't think our modern world of pleasure seeking is doing any favors for producing BABIES. The very thing needed to sustain a future economy and society. You know. Actual reproduction. Families. That sort of thing.

Sex is everywhere, but settling down and having kids is the last thing on a lot of people's minds. Then there's the problem with marriages themselves. Why aren't they having children if a couple get married and why aren't people getting married to have children? No more getting your wife pregnant by accident?

Its funny. With STD and AIDS concerns for the past 30 years and rampant teenage pregnancies, we now have a situation where abstinence and condom usage is actually starting to have an impact.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2007 @ 4:13pm

Mike is ignorant
It does seem amusing that looking at the exact same condition...

"The exact same condition"? Not all asian cultures are the same, ignorant jackass. There are many factors that make these two situations quite different.
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sendeth, 18 Mar 2007 @ 6:32pm

heard this before
most college classes pertaining to geography, anthropology,and so on, teach that a decline in population in a modernized country is due to the advancement of women in the culture. women want many of the same things that men want, including a successful career, so they no longer stay at home, and therefore are not having as many children.

every lesser developed country has a higher birth rate and a higher mortality and infant mortality rate. then the country gets more developed and the mortality rates go down due to new equipment and tech, while the birth rates go down because they need people to fill new jobs which dips into the female population. this is college freshman stuff.
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Ayal Rosenthal, 18 Mar 2007 @ 10:44pm

Quality of life?
The reality is that the internet provides an additional "outlet" for learning and occupying one's time. It does not replace the real thing and people who think that it does are doing something wrong.
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Jimi Spier, 18 Mar 2007 @ 10:56pm

Re: Re: Re:
Screw what everyone else says.. I agree with you. Its good to hear of another actual human out there in the world..
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trilioth, 19 Mar 2007 @ 7:41am

Re: Re: Re:
Please stop supporting people's insecurities. Not everyone has to try so hard. Not everyone is so caught up in physical appearance. Your blatant self-congratulation is disgusting.

There are other options...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamory

You sound like some neo-conservation spokes person. Your comment is also way off topic, Troll.
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Paul, 19 Mar 2007 @ 9:29am

hmm
Want more babies?
1) Pass a law that women cannot work.
2) Double men's wages.
3) Prepare for the largest baby boom in the nations history
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PT, 19 Mar 2007 @ 4:00pm

Re: hmm
What if women revolt and refuse to get pregnant? Institute government sanctioned pregnancies (legalized rape)? Prison for unwilling women? At least in Japan, no politician is dumb enough to try a stunt like that if they hope to still have a pulse by the end of the week.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2007 @ 5:41pm

BABIES. The very thing needed to sustain a future
Yeah - that's what the planet needs more over-population.

NOT!!!
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