Taiwan first in Asia in masturbation

By Wu Liang-yi and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer





Taiwan ranked first out of four Asia nations in masturbatory experience, although the region lagged behind the US and Europe, according to the 2019 Self-Pleasure Global Report by Japanese sexual health and wellness company Tenga.

Among surveyed Taiwanese, 80 percent reported having such experiences, making it the “most experienced” Asian nation compared with South Korea, China and Japan.

The average age at which a person started masturbating in Taiwan is 16.5 years, down 0.4 years compared with last year’s report.

Japan had the lowest average starting age at 13.8 years, down 0.8 years compared with last year.

As for masturbatory fantasies, Taiwanese respondents said they prefer known celebrities, while South Koreans usually fantasize about adult film stars, the report said.

Japanese respondents said that some anime or manga characters are the subjects of their fantasies, the report said.

As for the music people listen to during sexual intercourse, surveyed Taiwanese said they prefer pop music, with the majority choosing songs by Mayday (五月天) and Jay Chou (周杰倫).

According to the report, 26 percent of men said that they last from six to 10 minutes, while 18 percent said they last from 21 to 30 minutes.

In general, the survey found that women spend less time, with more than 60 percent of women reporting finishing within 15 minutes, while 24 percent finish within five minutes.

The majority of surveyed Taiwanese, male and female, reported being able to climax when masturbating, placing the nation ahead of the other surveyed countries.

Men favor visual stimulus when masturbating, while women are more capable of getting by with imagination alone, the survey found.

Eighty-three percent of male respondents and 62 percent of female respondents said they watch porn while masturbating, while close to half of the surveyed women use only imagination and 27 percent of surveyed women said they masturbate while reading erotic books.

Although both men and women in Taiwan consider masturbation to be a pleasurable experience, men prefer to have sexual intercourse with a partner, while women prefer masturbation, it showed.

The UK ranked first globally, with 61 percent of those surveyed claiming to masturbate once per week and 22 percent reporting masturbating a few times per month.

The US was close behind, with 60 percent saying they masturbate weekly and 23 percent saying more than a few times a month.

The report, released in May, aims to persuade the public to be more open when discussing such issues, Tenga said.

The company surveyed people aged 18 to 54 years old in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea, and collected 15,400 valid samples.