Sex and the country

• Dying embers? Some married people stopped having sex.
  
• Low libido: Husbands miss wives sexually more regularly than they are missed
  
• Who needs sex? 39% can go comfortably without sex for a year.
  
• A matter of time: Men prefer sex in the morning, women at midnight.
   

By Hilary Bainemigisha
 

Whether it is married people who are going without sex, or 40-year-olds who want it more than youths, the sex survey in Uganda revealed lots of surprising results. Saturday Vision brings you the first in the series of revelations on what Ugandans said about their sex life.

If you are a Muganda elite aged between 31 and 35, married and earning more than sh1m, you are more likely to be having sex about twice a month, but you would have wanted it up to four times. You thought seriously about sex four times last month and you describe those desires as extremely strong.

You have more than one sexual partner and you cannot easily be attracted to another person. You spend up to a month comfortably without sex, but when it comes, you wouldn’t mind what time, although you prefer it in the morning.

Size doesn’t matter to you, sex before marriage is wrong and circumcised men are better. These are some of the findings revealed by a sex survey done by Saturday Vision in July. The online survey included about 800 urban respondents, with access to Internet. They were sampled randomly and a total of 248 responses collected.

Among those, 130 were male and 118 female of different ages.The majority of the respondents were married (63%) and most had graduated from a university or tertiary institution.

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While the respondents hailed from 16 tribes of Uganda, most of them described themselves as Baganda (44%), followed by Banyankole (13%), then Acholi (9%), with Bakiga and Batoro tying at 6%. The survey, which was conducted for two weeks, relied on self-confessed unverifi ed feedback.

The data was ran aggregately using the analysis software SPSS. Most men preferred having sex in the morning, while women voted for midnight

Sex engagement

The question was: How often did you engage in any sexual activity (e.g touching each other intimately, sex and kissing) in the last month?

A total of 142 people responded, 84 males and 58 females. Twenty one out of 74 respondents, who described themselves as single, had no sexual activity. About 24% had it once, 14% twice, 27% up to four times a month and 7% daily.

One person, who described himself as married, reported no sexual activity in the last month and the majority (72%) put their frequency at once a month.

People aged 40-45 years had the highest sexual frequency of 82%, having it two-four times a month. However, the 20-25 age group said they have it once a month, compared to the rest with 30%.

Those who earn a lot of money - above sh3m, have the highest sexual frequency (83%) as compared to the rest. Those who earn below sh150,000 said they had sexual activity once a month.

Desire to have sex

Respondents were asked how often they would have liked to engage in any sexual activity during the last month. All age groups reported a daily desire, except three people in the 56 and above age category. One of these felt the desire up to four times a month and the remaining two, twice. The greatest sexual desire was identifi ed in the age group 40–50.

More men desired sex on a daily basis than women, but the difference is not that signifi cant. The majority in both genders felt the desire up to four times a month. Most of the singles desired sex up to four times a month and only 22% said it was daily.

Strength of desire

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The majority described their desire for sex as very strong, especially the 26-40 age group. On a scale of 0 to 10, most of the respondents in the 45-50 age group were at between six and seven. Those above 56 rated it at five.

Of the 58 females who answered this question, 14 said their sexual desire strikes at the maximum of 10 out of 10. Of the 84 men, 21 also said it was 10 out of 10. However, most men rated the strength of their desire as above fi ve and the women crowded between three and seven.

The desire was highest among those who described themselves as Catholics, Christians, Islam, Bornagain, Pentecostal and Anglican. Those who were cohabiting, in a relationship and engaged posted the strongest desire for sex.

Temptation

Participants were asked how strong their sexual desire was whenever they saw an attractive person and out of the 140 who answered the question, those in 20-40 age group confessed a highest temptation level. It reduces as the 41-45 age group comes in to 20% and disappears to 0% in the over 45 age group. At 22%, males reported more temptation than females at 12%. Most married people were not tempted.

Duration without sex

How long would you comfortably go without having any sexual activity? About 39% said they can resist for a year, 29% said not more than a month, 25% said not more than a week and 18%, up to 6 months.

Those who said they coud manage a year are 39% in the 20-25 age bracket, 35% in the 26-30, 23% in the 31-35, 30% in the 36-40, 9% in the 41-45 and 33% in those above 56 years old.

On the other hand, those who said they couldnot manage a week without sex were 9% among the 20-25, 28% for the26-30, 17% among 31-35, 30 among 36-40, 45% among 41-45 67% among 45-50 and 0% among those above 51. The majority of women (45%) said they can go up to a year, 22% up to six months, 19% a month and 14% a week.

However, 32% of the men cannot manage a week, 36% a month, 14% six months and 18% a year. Those who said they cannot manage a week without sex gave their tribes as Langi, Luo, Madi, Alur, Basoga and Lugbar. Most tribes said they can go up to a year without any sex activity, except the Bafumbira, Bagisu, Madi, Samia and Iteso.

About 24% of married respondents said they can go for a year and 28% said they can only afford a week. Those who are engaged to someone were split evenly between one week and one year. About 28% of the marrieds, 50% of the engaged, 33% of the dating, all cohabiting and 23% singles said they can abstain comfortably for just a week.

Best time for sex

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While most respondents (41%) said anytime is sex time, noon proved to be the most unpopular kick-off time, with just 4%, mostly from the  20-26 age group, saying they preferred it. About 24% preferred their ‘fireworks’ in the morning, 19% at midnight, 13% after supper and a dismal 4% at noon.

There is a difference in preference between males and females. For males, 43% said anytime, followed by morning (25%), then midnight (15%), after supper (13%) and lastly, noon (4%). Females prefer anytime (38%), midnight (24%), morning (22%) after super (14%) and lastly, noon (2%).

Sampled by tribe, Baganda said anytime (39%), followed by morning (23%), then midnight (21%), after supper (15%) and lastly, noon (2%). The Banyankole said anytime (18%), then morning (22%), then midnight (17%), then noon (6%) and lastly, no one wanted after supper.

The Acholi tied on the morning and midnight (33%), then tied again on anytime and after supper (17%) and none for noon. The Iteso preferred anytime (50%), and tied on morning and midnight (25%). None voted for after supper and noon.

Sexual thoughts about the partner

Often they thought of their partner with a sexual yearning during the last month and 44% said it was daily, 25% said two to three times a month and 14% said the month elapsed before they thought of their partners in a sexual light.

The 40–45 age category led  among the age groups that had sexual thoughts about their spouses with 55% and the 26- 35 came last with 36%, saying they never thought of them.

About 48% of the marrieds had sexual thoughts about their spouses daily, 32% up to four times a month, 12% never, and 4% once or twice. Those who were engaged or described themselves as being in a relationship said they had sexual thoughts every day.

Those cohabiting had them up to four times a month and the separated about twice. Most men (46%) said they missed their wives sexually, daily.

About 31% said it was up to four times that month, 12% said it was twice, 5% said once and 6% never. Most women (40%) also said they got sexual thoughts about their husbands, 26% said they never, 16% said it was up to four times, 14% once and 5% twice in the last month.

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