Press Releases

Sex Cultural Festival Survey: Hong Kong lacks space for sexual activities

The 6^th Hong Kong Sex Cultural Festival 2013 jointly organized by the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong (FPAHK) and the Hong Kong Sex Education Association (HKSEA) will take place at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) located in Shek Kip Mei in Kowloon from 26 October (Saturday) to 2 November (Saturday) this year. A survey in line with the Festival’s theme “Sex in the City” found the majority of respondents regarded space for sexual activities in Hong Kong as insufficient and had had or thought about sexual activities at places other than their residence for better enjoyment or more space away from home.

To find out how Hong Kong people’s sexual activities were related to the city space, the Organizing Committee of the Hong Kong Sex Cultural Festival (HKSCF) conducted the “Survey on Sexual Activities and City Space” from March to August this year. 559 respondents were polled. The results showed more than 80% of the respondents regarded space for sexual activities in Hong Kong as insufficient or highly insufficient. It also found 70% of the respondents had had or thought about sexual activities at places other than their residence. Among them, nearly 70% had had or thought about sexual activities in a hotel or hostel. About 20-30% chose other places such as a public swimming pool or the beach, the dormitory, the park, a private car, the toilet, the office, the school and the bush. The major reasons for having sexual activities at places other than their residence were for better enjoyment, higher spontaneity, more freedom or space away from home and confidentiality.          

Mr Joseph Cho, Executive Committee Member of HKSEA and Executive Co-Director of Nutong Xueshe said, “The survey results reflected that despite the crowded living environment, the majority of citizens still hold high expectations of the quality of their sex life, therefore they had had or thought about sexual activities at places other than their residence. The fact that most respondents chose a hotel, hostel or love hotel illustrated their ardent need for private space away from their residence for sexual activities. Overall, as many as 95% of respondents took satisfying one’s sexual desire as a basic human need. Crowded living environment and the quest for quality sex life have become conflicting factors in our society.”

Professor Ng Man-lun, HKSCF Founder and Vice-President of HKSEA said, “The Festival focuses on the relationship between sexuality and living space this year. In the over-crowded city of Hong Kong, physical space for sex is apparently scarce, in terms of private space for sexual activities and free public places with a romantic atmosphere for dating couples. Nevertheless, psychological space and social space are even more important. Nowadays, social taboos still restrict many people’s personal sexual psychological space, denying their rights to their own natural sexual desires, such as sexual fantasies and sexual activities for pleasure. On the other hand, erroneous sexual concepts also restrict people’s sexual psychological space, rejecting others with different sexual life styles, discriminating or even persecuting the sexual minorities. This Sex Cultural Festival aims to provide space for all, sexual minorities or otherwise, to voice their own sexual opinions, feelings and needs and to encourage the whole society to minimize all forms of sexual discrimination with maximal tolerance.”

Officiating at the opening ceremony will be special guests Dr York Chow, Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission, together with Mr Stanislaus Lai, HKSEA President, Dr Elaine Tung, Chairman of Information, Education and Communication Subcommittee of FPAHK and Prof Ng. At the ceremony, Prof Ng and Dr Chow will sing a duet and the Boys’ and Girls’ Club Association of Hong Kong’s gay volunteer group Elements will present a dance performance.

The Festival will feature indoor exhibitions and forums. The exhibitions will run for eight consecutive days at JCCAC’s L1 Gallery. The exhibitors and their works are:

• Artist Kiwi Liu Ka-Yee (“Miss Fat”): “Hong Kong lacks space even for masturbation”;
• Action for Reach Out: stories of sex workers;
• BigLove Alliance: creative works in various artistic media to break social taboos regarding homosexual cultures;
• PrideLab: Wearing Rainbow;
• Students of the Hong Kong Baptist University’s Academy of Visual Arts: installation artworks constructed from condoms;
• Students of architectural studies from the University of Hong Kong, School of Professional and Continuing Education: “Sex Born Space”; and
• The 6^th HKSCF 2013 “Hong Kong – Sexy City Photography Contest”: presenting glimpses of the sexy and romantic side of Hong Kong as captured by cameras.

Seven forums will be held on the first two days of the Festival at JCCAC’s Central Courtyard. Topics are: “Sex in the City” (including speakers from Secret Tour and Body Arts Association); “Do Poor Couples Have Bad Sex Lives?” (speakers including representatives of CSSA Alliance and Hong Kong Pride Parade and a sex therapist); “Online Sexual Space” (speakers including social workers from Caritas Hong Kong’s Project “Sexuality Zone” and Teen's Key); “Space for Sex Talk on Campus” (organized by Scholars Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity and BigLove Alliance); “Sexual Pleasures in the City” (including speakers from an adult toys’ company and an adult expo organizer); “Sexual Space Economy” (speakers including a sauna operator); and “Bodily Autonomy” (speakers including a beauty expert and a representative of Transgender Resource Centre).

Admission is free. All members of the public, especially youths, parents, teachers and families, are welcome. All activities will be conducted in Cantonese. For programme details and updates (in Chinese only), please visit FPAHK’s Sexuality Education Website at www.famplan.org.hk/sexedu, the 6^th Hong Kong Sex Cultural Festival 2013 Homepage at www.hksea.org/2013 and Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/HKSCF . Photographs of the press briefing are downloadable from the Press Release Section under Media Centre on FPAHK Website (www.famplan.org.hk).