Huge support for polygamy, study finds

Support for polygamy and the legalisation of prostitution is surprisingly high among South Africans, a new study has revealed.

Polygamy has dominated recent headlines, largely because of President Jacob Zuma's family situation and active love life.

Now Health24's third Great South African Sex Survey has found that 23 percent of the respondents believed in polygamy.

Moreover, the study found that there was a suspiciously high correlation between those in favour of polygamy and those who were "okay" with underage sex, pornography and cheating on their partners.

Other key findings from the survey revealed that:

Thirty-one percent of South Africans regularly had unprotected sex.
Wealthy, married men over 50 were most likely to pay for sex.

Women over 40 are more adventurous in the bedroom than their younger counterparts.

Eight percent of men engaged in regular partner-swopping.

The survey was conducted online and the responses from more than 10 000 people were weighted to make the findings representative of 1.3 million employed urban South Africans with at least a matric education.

Issues such as polygamy, rape and the legalisation of paid-for sex were the focus of this year's survey.

The survey showed that 44 percent of South Africans were in favour of formalising the sex worker sector - a majority of men (55 percent) and a third of women (32 percent).

While older men were more likely to play away from home, a relatively high proportion of their wives, especially those in their 40s, were adventurous, and most likely of all groups to have experimented with group and anal sex.

"The study showed that women feel most feminine during their 20s and 40s and so are more sexually empowered," said sexologist Elna McIntosh. "Moreover, divorcees are back in the dating game and are sexually assertive with new, and possibly younger, lovers."

The survey showed that strip clubs increased the potential for sex with strangers and partner-swopping.

Based on the survey's findings, it seems there is a strong case for women to be suspicious. Men who frequently go to strip clubs are more than twice as likely (27 percent) to have sex with strangers (compared with 11 percent of men who don't go to strip clubs). They are also four times more likely to swop partners (4 percent) than those who do not go to strip clubs (one percent).

"Men who visit strip clubs need to satisfy some underlying urge and would, therefore, participate in increased sexual activity to release those urges. Whenever there are uncontrolled urges there is fertile ground for risk," said Dr Prithy Ramlachan of the Newkwa Sexual Health and Wellness Centre.

When it comes to rape of an adult, men and women were in agreement about the most appropriate punishment: castration. Life imprisonment was the second most popular choice.
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