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August 7 ]
By Daniela Lazarova
In the Night and Day section of the Prague Post Michelle Legge has a
lengthy report on sex and the single Czech. Whatever else we need to
catch up on to meet Western standards - this is not one of them.
It seems that Czechs have much less conventional attitudes towards sex
and engage in sexual behaviour more frequently than the British,
American and French populations - at least, such is the result of
comparative studies carried out in the mentioned countries in 1994.
According to psychologist Petr Weiss, Czechs are also much less
conservative in their attitudes towards homosexuals, with respect to
pornography, abortion, pre-marital sex, extra-martial sex and group
sex. Michelle Legge notes that "there is evidence of this broad-minded
attitude everywhere you look -from newsstands , where hard-core
pornographic magazines jostle for space alongside women's handicraft
weeklies to the streets where, in the summer at least, girls and women
dress in a way that leaves little imagination". Being a little
sceptical as to this latter point - I consulted with a number of
foreign friends and they fully confirmed her impression. Apparently
Prague in the summer is a very sexy place to be. Also, I have on
several occasions heard American tourists express amazement-and
sometimes outrage- at newsstands overflowing with porn magazines. So
Michelle Legge is probably right. The bad news, which she gets to in
the second part of the article, is that although Czechs are enjoying
more sex their behaviour is not more responsible. Czechs register a
relatively high number of sexual partners and a lower usage of
contraception -possibly a carry-over from communist times when
contraception was not good-quality or widely available. Considering
the risks Czechs have been extremely lucky so far, with a fairly low
number of AIDS and HIV cases, certainly lower than Poland or Ukraine.
113 Czechs have been diagnosed with AIDS and 374 are reported to be
HIV positive. Although it is high time this careless attitude changed,
the Education Ministry remains the most prudent of all. It can't seem
to decide whether sex education should be taught at schools. A paradox
really, given the fact that kids have no problem acquiring porn mags
and videos... but then some attitudes are hard to root out -even in
the face of reality.
Talking of attitudes that are difficult to root out, the Ministry for
Local Development and Tourism is preparing to launch an education
campaign aimed at changing some negative Czech attitudes towards
foreign visitors to the Czech Republic. According to this week's
Respekt, the ministry is said to be increasingly concerned about how
the Czech Republic is being portrayed as a tourist destination in the
foreign media and on the Internet. Too often the unique old-world
charm of the city, which captivates everyone who visits, is spoiled
by experiences with surly taxi-drivers, higher prices for foreigners,
sloppy tourist guides or some form of discrimination. According to one
of a growing number of complaints sent to the Czech Inspection Office,
a German tourist group complained they'd been briefed on the history
and monuments of Usti nad Labem while standing in the middle of
Decin...Clearly some kind of action is long overdue -Respekt says -
but what form the ministry's campaign will take is still a well-kept
secret.....................................
The recent Global and Local Street parties in Prague could hardly fail
to get themselves noticed - they rated prime time news coverage and
a lot of newspaper space. For many of the elder generation the parade
of skinheads, mohicans, punks, break-dancers and what not presented
an incredible spectacle...So for anyone not entirely in the know
Reflex magazine has published its own lighthearted "Who is Who" Guide
to Global Street parties..
It introduces Anarchists, New Age Environmentalists, Aging
Environmentalists, Rave dancers, Anarch-rowdies and Punks.
The Anarchist is usually well-read and fervent in defense of his
philosophy. It is not important what philosophical stream he
represents as long as it is sufficiently leftist, Reflex says. They
don't pick fights and are there mainly to get on TV.
The New Age Environmentalist, forms the backbone of these
demonstrations. He is either long-haired or bald, fairly well
educated, smokes marijuana, hates consumerism, McDonald and everything
that his father stands for. In time he will join his father's firm.
The Aging Environmentalist - is the type who has withstood the
pressure of society and not joined his father's firm. He has a wife
and kids and doesn't drive a car for the simple reason that he can't
afford one. He attends these parties out of nostalgia and to meet up
with old friends. He will not fight unless directly attacked.
The Rave Dancer wants nothing to do with politics. He simply wants to
have a good time . They account for 15% of the turnout.
The Anarch-rowdie is the one to look out for. He is a regular
hooligan. Wants to get drunk, pick a fight and smash something -
ideally a policeman's mug. They account for 5% of the turnout, are
highly visible and often turn up only for the last hour or two royally
drunk and ready for action, Reflex notes.
And finally, the Punk - is a very colourful addition to the
procession. They turn up to warn the nation that there is NO FUTURE,
and proceed to demonstrate this by falling down, dead drunk, on the
wayside. Often their picture will make the next day's papers making
the whole affair out to have been much worse than it really was....the
weekly concludes.
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