Recently a certain condom manufact-urer did a global survey and discovered something rather surprising: Among 16- to 19-year-olds in Taiwan, an amazing 57% said that they expected to go to bed with a new partner within a month after their first meeting. This put Taiwan 9 points ahead of the global average of 48% for that age group.

"Cybersex" is becoming increasingly popular. Is this one more thing for parents to worry about? （photo by Pu Hua-chih）

Are young people in Taiwan really the most sexually impulsive in the world? How much does society really know about the sexual behavior of young people?

Sexual symbolism is everywhere around us. This breast-shaped work, made from betel nut boxes, recalls the scantily clad young ladies with eye-catching figures who are frequently hired to work the roadside betel nut stands. The work, called "Suck," is by Chiu Hsin-hau. （photo by Pu Hua-chih）

There's a certain ad that you may have seen on TV: A group of guys are playing basketball. But one of them seems unable to concentrate and looks depressed. In his mind, he keeps seeing the image of a flirtatious girl surrounded by boys trying to chat her up. The other players warn him: "She's just a 'public bus,' anybody can get on. So forget about her." It is only at the end that one of the older guys says something encouraging: "She may be a bus, but who knows? You may be the final stop."Lost virtue

These types of sexually suggestive advertisements fill the airwaves. It seems like sexuality is permeating every aspect of daily life. The sexual behavior of young people is increasingly becoming an explosive source of friction between parents and children.

Mrs. Huang's son is in his last year in high school. Every day he spends a lot of time on his hair-gobbing on styling mousse and blow-drying it straight up-and gets calls from girls inviting him out. Recently when washing his clothes, Mrs. Huang discovered a condom in her son's pants pocket. Unable to restrain her anger, she burst into his room: "Are you trying to ruin your life? If you get someone pregnant, how are you going to test into university?!" Little did she expect her child would give her an astonished look and respond: "They're giving those out on the street. Don't be so out of touch, OK?"

Mrs. Liu's daughter is in her first year in high school, and she already has a group of male friends from her class. Mrs. Liu has been rather worried, but didn't know how to approach the subject of sex. She heard that her daughter's school had invited an expert on sex education to speak at the school. Greatly relieved, Mrs. Liu anticipated that the expert would alert students to "the importance of maintaining one's virtue." Little did she expect that the specialist would discuss contraception, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, and even masturbation techniques, yet not say a single word about "chastity." Mrs. Liu was thunderstruck-could times really have changed so much?

The significant changes that are taking place are not only reflected in the distribution of condoms on the street or in sex education in schools. They are reflected at every level of modern life. This is why conservative sexual values are facing such a significant challenge.

Ho Chun-jui, director of a research program in sexuality and gender and a professor in the Department of English at National Central University, has become a controversial figure for encouraging "sexual liberation" and "sexual development" among women. In a new book she prepared for the Taoyuan County Bureau of Education on gender equality in schools, she explained how life has changed in all respects in Taiwan, and how sexuality has changed along with it:

In the past, in terms of the economy, Taiwan was mainly an export processing platform relying on disciplined labor. In politics, there was martial law and one-party rule. And conformity and frugality were the most revered values in society.

Under those conditions, Ho continues, young people were taught to repress their vitality and their desires, and to "tamely accept control and direction." Individuality and autonomy were deliberately quashed. Under the highly repressive educational system of the past, young people were "passive, desireless, and focused only on studying." To reduce stimulation and temptation to the minimum, boys and girls were divided into separate classes and separate schools, and forbidden to interact.

Hsieh Fen-fen, director of the division of juvenile affairs for the Taipei City police, adds some detail to Ho's picture of those days: When she first entered the force in the 1970s, she had street detail, assigned to the duty of "eradicating bizarre attire and weird personal appearance." "Girls found shopping in miniskirts were held at the police station until their parents arrived with a long skirt. It was even worse for boys with long hair. They were, without exception, shaved bald." Thinking back on the past, Hsieh cannot help but be amused.

Social mores are becoming more open, and it is no longer a rarity to see young people hugging and kissing on the street. （photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang）

What a contrast with today! Hsieh is perplexed by contemporary young people with their scanty attire and their multicolored punk hair: "I don't even understand the surface appearance, so how can I touch their hearts and minds?"Nothing below the belt

In sum, then, the repression of sexual desire was one link in the overall political, economic, and cultural environment of repression that formerly existed. However, Taiwan in the 1990s is a very different place: Economically the emphasis is on innovation and creativity. In politics people must be bold and forthright to succeed. And in society, capitalist consumerism-which encourages and indeed thrives on self-indulgence and giving in to temptation-rules the day.

Amidst this release of social energy and the pluralization of values, moral boundaries are loosening. Wang Chi-tsan, district supervisor for the Commission of Juvenile Guidance of Taipei City, gives his version of how times have changed.

In his description, politics used to be about the public good, whereas now it is merely "clever deception." In his view, people used to be frugal and hard-working, and built productive industries; today they go for the fast buck by playing the stock market and other "money games." He remembers people as being simple, polite, and modest, whereas today they only get ahead by thrusting themselves forward and stepping on someone else. Self-restraint has been replaced by an attitude of "it's OK if it feels good." Social mores are being rewritten across the board: challenge authority, seek material wealth, explore your desires. . . . And there are reasons-or rationalizations-for all these attitudes.

Moreover, the elimination of media censorship has given children an unprecedented glimpse into the "adult world" that they always envied but could never really imagine. And what they have seen is not pretty.

"Adults themselves are behaving improperly, that's the reason why children are going wrong," says Lin Yen-chin, director of the Mercy Memorial Foundation, which specializes in sex education issues. She cites a little witticism that is currently making the rounds along the lines of "You can't tell what a politician is like below the waist [private behavior] just by looking at him above the waist [the public persona]." With the controversy surrounding US President Clinton, a sex scandal in Taiwan involving former provincial spokesman Huang Yi-chiao and media personality Chou Yu-kou, and stories circulating about leading businessmen like Lin Po-shih and Wang Wen-yang having children by their mistresses, sexual scandal has become an important selling point for the media. The upcoming elections for the mayorships of Taipei and Kaohsiung have seen massive media attention devoted to allegations that a certain candidate has made special trips to Macao to patronize brothels or claims by another that he has a tape "proving" marital infidelity on the part of a third. Society-or at least the media-seems to be drowning in sexual voyeurism.

Lin says with an ironic laugh that it is pointless to hope for any return to "chasity" in a day when subjects like oral sex, anal sex, abortion, and sexual organs are already part of the public discourse, including the conversation of children. Chou Li-yu, principal of the Wanfang Middle School in Taipei, concludes that "the problem is with society and adults, not with young people."

Since the publication of the Taiwan edition of Playboy, many girls have done their own revealing "real me" photo albums. The photo shows the press conference for the first issue of the Taiwan edition of Penthouse.

Recently there has been discussion in the US about producing separate newspapers and TV news broadcasts for young people. At the same time, there is debate in Taiwan over whether to give television programs "ratings" for sexual or violent content. Yet, can such ideas possibly work if adults aren't willing to restrain themselves, but merely want to hide what they are doing from children? The veil of "forbidden fruit" that long surrounded sexuality has been torn away, and pretending it is still there, here in the late 20th century, is laughable.Sexual imagery enters the home

The trend toward titillation in the media is most obvious in the rampant spread of sexual programs. It is easy to access pornographic channels or programs on cable TV in Taiwan. Although some are broadcast only late at night, even these don't get past the eyes and ears of many young people who are up at those hours.

"In fact I don't really like watching them. It's just that every night I have to watch the game before I can go to sleep, and while channel-surfing, I just happen to see them," says a middle-school student. He has a TV in his room, and sometimes when watching porn programs he "feels something." Fortunately in sex ed class they taught masturbation techniques, and the subject is frequently joked about among his classmates, so he doesn't feel there's any difficulty in "resolving" his "problem."

But scholars are not so sanguine about the more general problem of porn. "In the past, although there were live strip shows or sex shows for adults, these were limited to certain specific places and aimed at certain audiences," says Edwin Yen, executive director of the Mercy Memorial Foundation and chair of the Health Education Department at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). Today sex comes right into the home through cable TV, videotapes, the Internet, and telephone sex and "friendship" lines. The impact is profound.

According to a survey released this September by Luo Wen-hui, a professor of journalism at Chengchih University, 90% of high school students and more than 60% of middle school students in Taipei have seen sexual programs or publications. The question then becomes: Do these have an adverse impact on the sexual outlook of children? The answer is undoubtedly yes.

In most of the sexual programming, sex is simple animal gratification completely divorced from love or marriage. Luo's research shows that the more young people see of these programs, the more likely they are to think it is permissible to have pre-marital sexual activity or to concurrently have several sexual partners.

Moreover, long-term viewing of sex videos can be connected to aberrant behavior. There was a case in the Minsheng Primary School in Taipei City of a sixth grader who pulled up girls' skirts, lay on the ground to peep at their underwear, and even stood close to people to grope and embrace them. Later it was discovered that he routinely watched sex videos and sex programs for entertainment, and learned those things from the videos.

Adult scandals over extra-marital affairs, children born out of wedlock, and sexual conflicts are paraded before the eyes of young people. What do teens think of it all? （photo by Pu Hua-chih）

Sex in the media does more than inculcate erroneous sexual views into children. It also portrays profound inequality between men and women. This is a point that deeply concerns feminists.A conquest? An offering?

Yang Chia-ling, who formerly taught in middle school and is now a board member of the Awakening Foundation, a women's group, notes that there is a large difference in the sources of sexual information for boys and girls. Boys mainly get theirs from watching porn videos. These emphasize masculinity and the thrill of conquest. The women in the videos are little more than sex toys who squeal and moan for the pleasure of the men.

In contrast to boys, most girls get their views on sex and love from romance novels. In these novels, women show their love by giving their bodies. Sex becomes a way of proving their love.

"One side is anxious to conquer, the other side anxious to offer. It doesn't take much imagination to see what these kinds of attitudes will lead to," says Yang. These misguided sexual views, combined with an open sexual atmosphere, have created a dilemma for modern girls.

One student, who we will call Chang Ping, who is in her third year of middle school in Taipei City, is one example in a countless number: "A girl can't refuse a boy just by saying that her parents forbid sex. The boy is going to rag on her for being out of date." Chang Ping describes her own "first night": "My boyfriend even said, 'If you're not willing, maybe you don't love me enough.'"

Fearing that her boyfriend would become angry or walk away, Chang Ping, half compelled and half willing, embarked on her first sexual experience. It's just that love purchased with one's body doesn't last for long, and now Chang Ping is again on her own.

Middle school children with their uniforms and regulation haircuts. There has long been separate-sex education in Taiwan. When they finally do meet, do boys and girls know how to get along in a healthy way?

Fortunately, she is not disturbed about having lost her virginity: "Puh-lease! What century do you think this is?! I never expected to be with him my whole life anyway!" But what if she should meet and fall in love with a boy who insisted that his girlfriend be a virgin? "Who would fall in love with such an old fuddy-duddy?!" Her guileless smile reveals no worry about the future.Divorce changes the rules

Chang Ping's aunt, Ms. Lu, a businesswoman, explains that, when you understand Chang Ping's family background, "you can't really blame the child." Both Ms. Lu and Chang Ping's mom divorced their husbands after more than ten years of marriage because the husbands were having affairs. These women accepted past admonitions and warnings, and retained their virginity through college, yet look what happened to the family lives they spent more than a decade building.

"Does chastity ensure marital happiness?" asks Ms. Lu. It may be a good thing, an ideal, to be sexually conservative, but it isn't a restriction that applies only to the woman. Once promises have been exchanged, men must also observe restraint; "virtue" only has meaning if it is built on a foundation of equality between men and women.

In her business circles, Mrs. Lu knows many older women who have gotten divorced. With a sigh, she recalls that women of her generation thought that "protecting one's body" was the most important thing in life, because a woman was to have "one partner until the end." But with the rising divorce rate-which is sure to keep going up for Chang Ping's generation-what's the use of insisting that children keep to the old mores?

Of course, no matter how society may change, like all parents Ms. Lu hopes her own children will act with dignity and self-respect. It's just that with the demands placed on children these days to "succeed"-earn graduate degrees and build careers-even before they get married, it is unrealistic to expect young people to pine their youths away alone in their rooms waiting for the day when they light the wedding candles. Ms. Lu, whose 25-year-old son is putting off marrying his long-time girlfriend until they can afford to buy a house, knows this.

Feminists on the street marching under the slogan "Orgasms, not harassment!" They get a lot of attention from the media, but create a challenge for sex education.

"When children reach 20, they can be responsible for themselves. I let him make his own decisions," she explains. Though there is no arbitrary age that ensures maturity and character-all the recent sex scandals have involved people of advanced age, education, and social status-she has little choice but to resign herself to a situation which is beyond her control.Slower, fewer

Lin Yen-chin looks at things from a historical perspective. Starting with the fact that "the mid- to late-teens are the time of life of the greatest vitality and sexual desire," Lin points out Shakespeare's Juliet was only 14 at the time of her fatal attraction. Also, as recently as the latter half of this century, it was still quite normal for women in Taiwan to get married at 16. Indeed, for millennia, peoples around the world have thought this a suitable age for marriage. Thus, historically, young lust was able to find release within the institution of marriage.

But Wanfang Middle School principal Chou Li-yu, who deals with young teens on a daily basis, has a different opinion: "Life expectancy was much shorter in the old days, and there was a great demand for labor in agricultural society-that's the only reason why people were willing to put young girls' health at risk by encouraging early marriage and childbirth."

She says that there is now medical evidence that an early start to sexual activity, or having a large number of sexual partners, can be major contributing factors to cervical erosion or cervical cancer. Also, it's dangerous for a young girl, whose reproductive organs are not yet fully mature, to become pregnant, not to mention the possibilities of infection, hemorrhaging, and loss of fertility in cases of abortion. "Modern people can enjoy their lives for 70 or 80 years. What's the rush?" wonders Chou.

What will sexual attitudes be like in the 21st century? Family values? Love above all? Individualism? Nobody knows.

Because of the physical risks, though in some foreign countries sex is not forbidden for young people, it is not encouraged. Two of the main goals of sex education abroad are "postponing the age at which people begin to have sex" and "reducing the number of sexual partners."Women on top

But are young girls following such advice? Wang Chi-tsan has been involved in youth guidance for many years, and has seen many cases of behavioral deviancy. She notes that, with many feminists calling for "sexual liberation" for women, an increasing number of women are taking the initiative in sex. It used to be assumed that a woman would always be "putting on the brakes" to slow down the easily excitable male. But now women also display strong sexual desire, so things are more complicated.

Hsieh Fen-fen, noting that over half of the young girls who are now receiving compulsory instruction under police supervision have sexual experience, says she doesn't know whether to feel outraged or saddened when she hears middle-school girls of 13 or 14 boldly telling male officers of their sexual exploits.

Wang Chi-tsan recalls one former case of hers, a 13-year-old girl, who continually boasted that she had had 50 sexual partners. Another girl told how, on her 13th birthday, she decided to celebrate "growing up" by finding a boy to go to bed with (albeit the experience left her feeling "empty").

Wang notes that the law has yet to recognize the trend of girls taking the initiative in sex. The mindset behind existing law is that, in any case of sexual union, it must be the guy "taking advantage of" the girl. Thus the law says that any sexual activity with a girl under 14-even if by mutual consent, as a result of the girl taking the initiative, or with a monetary payoff-is "rape."

But individual cases suggest that, as Wang says, "Girls today are not necessarily the weaker party." Girls mature earlier than boys, and many girls in middle school are already quite well-developed; they are "big sisters" (bullies) or even "tyrannical empresses" on campus, and may even force boys into sex. Says Wang, "The law should eliminate gender bias in terms of who it applies to."Seeking solace

Hsieh Fen-fen recognizes that young people have a lot of energy and curiosity, but does not accept they will inevitably be drawn into activities like smoking, drugs, and sex. She says, if there are sound activities to attract them, and they have a stable and healthy environment in which to grow up, they will grow up normally. Put another way, children who lack love and a sense of accomplishment are far more likely to end up in a series of purely physical sexual encounters in an effort to compensate for the lack of love and warmth in their lives, and to affirm their own self-worth.

Unfortunately, in modern industrial society, the structure of family life has changed dramatically. One rarely sees the intimacy of the extended family living all together. Instead people are always busy and there is a feeling of distance between them. This situation not only provides grist for countless films and novels, it is a very real reason why growing numbers of young people are turning to sex.

Lately there has been much discussion of the so-called "September abortion tide" that follows summer vacations. In the past families were close-knit, and there was always somebody around the house-grandma, grandpa, mom. . . . During the languid summer vacations, young people freed from the pressures of homework and the supervision of their schools were not simply set adrift.

But in modern families with two working parents, the home is just an empty shell. When children get out of summer supplementary schools and go out with their pals, or have friends of the opposite sex over to the house, can parents really exercise supervision? In some individual cases of teen pregnancy, the girls-wanting to keep the child and not daring to tell their parents-have gone as long as seven or eight months before their parents noticed something was wrong with them. It is regrettable how far apart parents and children are today.The 3% solution?

There are many factors stacking up against the maintenance of chastity among young people. As society is wavering over whether sexual behavior among young people is permissible or not, it is important to ask: Just how many young people are actually having sex?

According to a very extensive 1996 survey of high school and 5-year junior college students, conducted by the Taiwan Provincial Family Planning Center, 8.5% of respondents said they had had some sexual experience. And in a survey of Taipei City middle school students done by the King Car Education Foundation, an amazing 10.8% had some sexual experience. On the other hand, in a survey of more than 1000 students in Taipei conducted by Luo Wen-hui, the figure for sexual experience among middle school students was very low-only 2.7%-as opposed to 9.7% for high schoolers.

However much the statistics may differ, individual attitudes among young people toward sex vary even more. Society is very pluralized, from the most conservative to the most open-minded extremes, and all shades of gray in between. It is impossible to give a complete picture in a short space.

However, Chou Li-yu, with her many years of experience as an educator, doesn't think that young people today are really all that "out of control." It's true that, with the media spreading unhealthy ideas, most kids think there is something wrong if they don't have a friend of the opposite sex. But, says Chou, "The media sensationalizes things. What are people talking about with this so-called 'abortion tide' and 10% of middle school students having sexual experience? Things are certainly not so serious!" Chou, who is currently working with the Good Shepherd Sisters of Hualien to help pre-wed mothers resume their studies at Wanfang Middle School, notes that-despite the fact that Wanfang isn't considered to be in a "good area"-she has not personally come across a case of pregnancy or abortion in many years.

However, the results of a recent survey by the Mercy Memorial Foundation and Durex, a giant international maker of condoms, tell a different tale.Ten short years

On one hand, in at least one respect Taiwan proved the most sexually conservative of the 15 countries surveyed-the average age of "first sexual experience" was 22.1, versus 16.3 in the US and 19.1 in Hong Kong.

But such overall figures hide a huge generational difference. On another item-"How soon would you want to have sex with a new boyfriend or girlfriend?"-57% of Taiwan respondents between the ages of 16 and 19 answered "within one month." Taiwanese of that age group were not only 9% ahead of their international counterparts, their answers contrasted sharply with those of Taiwanese respondents over 30, nearly half (45%) of whom said that people should not have sexual relations until after marriage.

"This shows that sexual attitudes in Taiwan have changed radically in less than a generation," says Edwin Yen. Interestingly, though in the US and Europe chastity is no longer considered an absolute value, and there are no penalties for sex outside of marriage, young people are not in that big a hurry to get into bed, whereas it's the opposite in Taiwan. In ten short years, sex has changed from "something you can't talk about to something people talk about without restraint" and "something you can't do to something people do without restraint"! The impact of the mass exposure to sexual license is now showing up in young people.New sexual values?

The massive changes of the last decade have created a gap between young people on the one hand and their parents and teachers on the other. How should we approach sexual behavior among young people? Parents are uncertain how to handle the situation, and it is difficult to allay their fears.

"As for sexual behavior among young people, we don't say 'it's OK' and we don't say 'it's forbidden,'" says Edwin Yen, one of the leading authorities on sex education in Taiwan. His starting point in teaching is, "We don't decide for the children," because "it doesn't work to repress sexual desire or frighten children about it."

But this does not mean that children should be allowed to do whatever they feel. "Through sex education, we can teach children the choices that are available and how to choose between them," says Yen. Currently sex education classes-covering things like reproductive biology, sexual values, and the use of sanitary napkins and condoms-are being taught in middle and primary schools across Taiwan. Through education at the roots, children can be helped to keep themselves steady through this period of vast change, and build a sexual value system suited to the 21st century.

The sexual behavior of young people is a microcosm of the era as a whole and a reflection of adult society. We must all think carefully about where to go from here.