Sex in city? Rural youth far ahead

By Rajini Mohit

Forget sex in the city, the villages are where all the action is.

A study has found that more youth in rural areas of the state indulge in pre-marital sex than their urban counterparts, thanks largely to the fact that they face none of the space and privacy problems young couples in cities are constantly grappling with.

Findings of the Youth in India- Situation and Needs study, which were made public on Thursday, showed that the chances of young men in rural areas indulging in pre-marital sex is three times higher than young men in urban areas.

The study indicates that one in five young men in rural areas as compared to one in nine in urban areas had indulged in pre-marital sex.

For women, 4% in rural areas had sex before marriage as compared to 2% in urban areas.

Cutting across the urban-rural divide, the study found that 16% of young men and 3% of young women reported being physically intimate with their partners.

"It can safely be concluded that pre-marital sex is not an elite phenomenon any more," said Usha Ram, director, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, which jointly carried out the study with the Population Council, New Delhi, in 2006-07.

"It was surprising to note that more rural men were indulging in pre-marital sex despite having little awareness," said Shireen Jejeebhoy, associate professor, Population Council.

But half the youth who had pre-marital sex did not even know that one sexual act was enough for pregnancy to take place.

A total of 7,570 married and unmarried women and men between the ages of 15-29 were interviewed.

Shireen Jejeebhoy, associate professor, Population Council, said availability of space and privacy were some of the factors that favoured romantic relationships in rural areas. An informal chat by surveyors about dating locations found that secluded temples and fields were mostly favoured by the couples. "Urban couples obviously do not have such privacy," she said.

The study has also thrown up a worrying trend of forced sex.

Nearly 6 % young men and 32% young women reported being either persuaded or forced to engage in sex.

Chances of contracting sexually transmitted diseases was also high among those indulging in pre-marital sex with 32% of men having sex with two or more partners as compared to 29 % of women.