PORN CAUSES LOW BIRTH RATE?

Well, you be the judge of that...

Poll to study porn usage, among other sexual habits
Fri, Jul 16, 2010
my paper

By Annabelle Liang

FINDING out how widespread the habit of indulging in pornography is in Singapore may help reverse the falling birth rate here.

Looking at pornographic material may disrupt the need to engage in sexual activities in marriage, which would then result in fewer babies, said the Singapore Planned Parenthood Association (SPPA).

So the non-profit organisation, which promotes sexual and reproductive health, aims to find out how many people are looking at pornography and how often they are doing so - among other sexual habits - through an online survey.

Through the Fertility Awareness Survey, which it launched yesterday, it hopes to discover the factors causing the low birth rate here and resolve them.

For example, should pornography prove to be a pressing issue, it would advise couples on the matter during its sexual-intimacy talks, and rope in other voluntary welfare organisations and government agencies like the Health Promotion Board to help.

It also plans to offer counselling services and, through publishing the survey's results, spur couples facing the issue to come forward.

The association also hopes to use the survey results to raise public awareness of contraception and sexually transmitted diseases.

It aims to get 2,200 people, aged 16 to 40, to take its 52-question survey within three months.

The results will then be analysed by a panel of professionals including Professor Wong Peng Cheang, head of department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the National University of Singapore.

The SPPA carried out a similar survey in 1981, but that had focused on young people aged 14 to 21.

Attitudes may have changed since then, and the survey will give a better idea of what people in the reproductive age group think, said Prof Wong.

Mr Edward Ong, the SPPA's president, said that the survey will help to "create a profile of the young people and their lifestyles and, if other organisations find it useful, they can use it to model their programmes after the findings".

More than 30 people have completed the survey. To take part, visit https://fas.questionpro.com/ Participants can remain anonymous, but those who want to stand a chance of winning movie vouchers and a $150 dining voucher in a lucky draw can key in their identity-card number.

aliang@sph.com.sg