Perceptions about female sexuality among young Pakistani men presenting to family physicians at a teaching hospital in Karachi.

OBJECTIVE: To study the perceptions about female sexuality among young Pakistani men, presenting to family physicians at a teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. STUDY DESIGN: A questionnaire based prevalence study. SETTING: Questionnaire administered to 188 young Pakistani men, between the ages 18-30 years, who presented to family physicians, at the outpatient department of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Perception among Pakistani young men about enjoyment of sexual experiences in women, whether women stop to enjoy sexual experiences during stress, menstruation, pregnancy and after menopause. Whether they are aware about "orgasm" in women and their belief in who can initiate sexual experiences, husband, wife or both. RESULTS: The age of the study population was uniformly distributed between 18-30 years. The majority of the respondents were professionals, with a high school or a higher level education and belonged to the middle socioeconomic group. Well over 40% of the respondents thought that sexual experiences in women in comparison to men are less enjoyable. 22% believed that women cannot enjoy sex during pregnancy while 20% thought they can't enjoy after menopause. 58% of the respondents were aware of the phenomenon of orgasm in women. 6.4% believed that the initiation of sexual experience lies with husband only. CONCLUSION: We have found a high prevalence of misconceptions about female sexuality among Pakistani young men in our study sample. We expect the situation to be more adverse in the society where education is less and people belong to the lower socio-economic class. We strongly recommend sex education of our youth.