Prevalence of contraceptive use in Italy: Comparison with European countries.

Prevalence of contraceptive use in Italy: Comparison with European Countries C. Bastianelli, M. Farris and G. Benagiano Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University ‘la Sapienza’, Rome, Italy Over the last 50 years, human reproduction has undergone major revolutions and it is not surprising that attitudes towards sexuality have also drastically changed. Depending of the point of view, modern contraception has been credited or accused of being at the origin of such dramatic changes. A recent survey of men and women aged 16 to 49, has been carried out in 12 European countries and analysed in depth the vision that European citizens have today of their sexuality and of contraception as an aid to achieving reproductive self-determination. Sexuality The first and most intriguing of the information collected in the survey, is the prevalence in Italy of singles (defined as persons without a fixed partner): 28% versus a mean European value of 20%. At the same time Italian young men are those who wait longer before engaging in full sexual activity (on average 19.2 years). Generally speaking, in their lifetime, Italian men have two more partners than their women (8.3 versus 6.4) The vast majority of Italians (85%) believe that seduction is very important in achieving a satisfactory sexual activity; seduction has always been a male prerogative; however, today 2/3 of young Italian women interviewed have declared to have been at least as active as the man in seducing their partner. Indeed some 70% of men felt that women know more about seduction than they do. Petting, kissing, a romantic atmosphere and undressing seductively are considered important