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Thai teens don't mind pre-marital sex: survey

Thai teenagers' chaste reputation has gone out of the window with more than half of Bangkok youths believing that pre-marital sex is no longer taboo, poll results showed yesterday.

Public displays of affection among teenagers are virtually the norm now in the once-staid Thai capital as youths -- bombarded by erotic marketing, racy television and a more liberal attitude -- come to see sex as fashionable, the survey showed.

Of the 417 teenaged high school students in Bangkok polled by Rajabhat Suan Dusit University this month, 51.3 percent said underage or pre-marital sex was now acceptable, while a full 92.81 percent said teenagers should be able to express their love in private.

Only 1.12 percent said no affection should be displayed in public, while 78.88 percent said holding hands was the extent teens could go to in expressing their love publicly. Kissing or hugging was the limit for 17.53 percent.

In a worrying trend, however, the largest single reason for why students expressed their love in public, totalling 36.11 percent of respondents, was "following the trend."

The poll did not report figures for how many of the teens actually engaged in sex. Conservatives condemned the findings, with one prominent senator reportedly pinning the lapse in student modesty on Western influences glorified by the Thai media.

"The institution of the family has failed dismally," Senator Rabiabrat Pongpanitch told the Nation daily.
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