Read the writer's bio before sharing your hot take on the article.<p>"Kristen R. Ghodsee, a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania, is the author of numerous books on European Communism and its aftermath, including, most recently, “Red Hangover: Legacies of 20th-Century Communism.”<p>This is an essay in the series Red Century, about the history and legacy of Communism 100 years after the Russian Revolution."<p>Edit: formatting
I really wish the NYTimes didn't publish crap like this: "here's a marginally significant observation about two groups of people and here's a bunch of anecdotes that purport to explain the difference." It's a just-so story wrapped in a veneer of history. At least deal with the subject critically, discuss whether the observation is significant or whether the method (anecdotes, in this case) being used to explain the differences between people is robust. Ask a follow up question: "If X is true, we might also expect Y."
According to <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2008/05/sex_and_the_country.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...</a><p>In the US rural teens have more sex than urban teens. One of the theories of why this happens is boredom. Rural teens just don't have as many activities to fill their day as do urban teens.<p>I wonder if something like that can explain at least part of this finding. The West during this time underwent massive technological and social change, compared to the Communist countries. In addition, in the Communist countries, complaining could land you in prison (see the Stasi and their informant network). Unless you wanted to risk your life escaping, the best coping strategy was probably to shut up and have sex to relieve your tension.
The basis for the headline:<p><i>A comparative sociological study of East and West Germans conducted after reunification in 1990 found that Eastern women had twice as many orgasms as Western women.</i>
Bullshit. I was born in communist Czechoslovakia. It is like celebrating North Korea, because their army has 30% women. Sex was one of a few available
entertainment options.<p>It was difficult to get basic hygiene products (tampons, toilet paper).
I think it's plausible. The research in the book The Spirit Level supports the notion that more equal societies have their members less stressed, across the whole social hierarchy. There is also interesting research from Robert Sapolsky about this.
tl;dr women, when not having to depend on a man for income and have an equivalent divide of household duties, tend to not be as stressed and have better sex
Bulgaria was never a communist state, and categorizing it as such is a gross misrepresentation. It was ally to communist states, yes, but the socialism in Bulgaria was far communism.
In East Germany before the unification, lifestyles were more traditional. Moreover, there were incentives to start a family early in life. Perhaps most importantly, young families would get priority treatment when applying for newly-built apartments. Therefore people got married in their early 20s, and moved into their new flat, away from parents, as soon as possible, and had the sex life young married couples normally have.
Makes sense. The longer your work day and the more financially stressed you are, the less sex you're going to tend to have. Birth rates have been decreasing in the first world countries for a reason.