As more and more people turn to online chat rooms to arrange casual sexual encounters, a disturbing culture of unsafe sex is developing among the country's netizens.
A growing body of evidence suggests that one-night stands, extramarital affairs, and sexual services are increasingly being arranged in cyberspace, where anonymity and convenience make establishing casual sexual relationships easy.
For instance, in a recent incident in Taichung an HIV-positive woman solicited men online with offers of unprotected sex, only to later announce in a chat room that she had HIV and was trying to infect others.
The incident reportedly led to a string of online messages by men who had had unprotected, anonymous sex with the woman, saying that they would get themselves tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"Although people tend to be more removed from one another [in the digital era], the need for interaction is as strong as ever, which is why virtual interaction is increasing," said Chan Tung-lin (
Chan added that the hectic pace of modern life made online chat rooms ideal for those in need of social interaction, but who lack the time and social skills to interact with others in more conventional settings.
"Besides those looking for `fast-food-style' romance, many also turn to the Internet to arrange one-off encounters and extramarital affairs," Chan said.
pressure
Lin Pen-tang (林本堂), a psychiatrist at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) that local youth who seek out one-night stands are often under tremendous amounts of pressure at school and use casual sex as a way of coping with academic demands.
Lin described their promiscuity as a "sickness" that could be cured with the proper medical and psychiatric treatment.
Chan agreed that pressure could be behind promiscuous behavior, but added that many other factors could be responsible as well.
"Men who have one-night stands -- besides trying to satisfy a basic sexual need, may be trying to prove that they're robust and virile, some may be trying to prove to themselves that they're charming and attractive," he said.
"Women, on the other hand, often engage in casual sex due to a feeling of emptiness or loneliness," Chan said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS