Hindus and Muslims Most Likely to Abstain from Premarital Sex

[maynardsong]

I can't put my finger on it, but as a Hindu lady, I'm not liking this article very much. Plus, India has an extremely high HIV rate, even if the Middle East doesn't, so obviously there is extramarital sex going on. And twenty-somethings in Mumbai and Bangalore absolutely go out and hook up. Social mores aren't really terribly different from the

Comments

[chaya]

Consider sex/health related tags.

[maynardsong]

Added a sex one. But health? Eh...not sure it fits. I really want a "oic" one because the preconceived notions of the author are very very obvious.

[halfshellvenus]

It's the stats on Jewish people that I find so bizarre. Not so much the premarital sex (partly because I think most Jews, at least in the U.S., are less prone to marrying "very young," so remain single longer). But more affairs than Christians? That one surprises me.

I think you could say that the burqa successfully reduces the amount of premarital sex (other than rape), without saying that it is in any way a GOOD thing. This result is an obvious side-effect, however the PRICE of that result is far too high.

[bushy_brow]

But more affairs than Christians? That one surprises me.

More affairs that they'll admit to. Not really the same thing.

[halfshellvenus]

Exactly. All of this is colored by how truthful the respondents are willing to be, so to a certain degree, it's useless.

[bushy_brow]

A-yup. And Holier-Than-Thou Christians are more than willing to lie to preserve their high opinions of themselves, so I'm taking this with a veritable salt mine.

[skellington1]

MTE. When your only data comes from self-reporting, and the thing you want people to be self-reporting is socially and religiously proscribed, it isn't surprising that not many people report it.

Even without that, there are way, way too many other factors that can be at play here -- age at first marriage is a big one. And is there a reason they're lumping Hindus and Muslims in together in the study that isn't clear in the report? Because it seems to me that even if the net effect -- less premarital sex -- is the same between the two groups, assuming the cause is the same is quite a stretch.

[crooked_halo]

Of course there's a reason. All non-white non-Christian religions blend together. Why wouldn't you lump Hindus and Muslims together? They're liek the same thing!

*sigh*

[amyura]

All of this, plus it's even more so when you account for the higher rate of abstinence-pledge kids who engage in oral and anal sex because they think those activities "don't count" and allow them to stay "virgins" until they marry.

[beetlebums]

Do they want a special cookie?

I'm tired of sex being stigmatize. Sex is fun and healthy, especially if you get tested regularly and use protection. I'm also tired of how misogynistic society is regarding sex.

/have a lot of feelings as a female who has a very active sex life and is single

[maynardsong]

Hindus and Muslims? How did you ever get the impression that Hindus and Muslims want a special cookie? Like, what? I have a lot of feelings as a Hindu, who also happened to have premarital sex. I'd understand if you accused the creator of this study of wanting to give us special cookies, but I assure you, we're not asking for them.
By the by, in big cities in India, our mores are no different from those of big cities in white people countries, and I'm goddam tired of white people assuming that us brown folk are backwards about sex.

[beetlebums]

I was talking about the study and the author. I'm a firm believer in people can make the choices they want to make in life as long as they don't force it on others.

[maynardsong]

And I don't disagree with you in the slightest. I just hope you understand where I'm coming from, as someone who does fall into one of these two groups and who gets damn tired of this stereotype of people who look like me being backwards. I mean, who created the Kama Sutra? Who has a world heritage site that has a lot of erotic architecture? The Hindus!

[anolinde]

You mean it's not Christians????