Turkey talks about its sexuality…
In the spring of 2005 Hürriyet Newspaper commissioned the TNS PIAR Marketing Research Company to conduct a comprehensive sexuality survey of the Turkish people. As a result, TNS PIAR established a field team of interviewers consisting of 95 women and 106 men — a total of 201 experienced marketing researchers.
In face to face meetings lasting between 40 and 60 minutes each, the team subsequently interviewed 2908 men and women, aged 13 and above — a representative cross-section of the general public from the 17 provincial centers of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Kirklareli, Manisa, Denizli, Adana, Antalya, Konya, Kayseri, Samsun, Trabzon, Erzurum, Malatya, Diyarbakir, and Gaziantep.
In addition, the opinions and comments of celebrities (who were brave enough to be interviewed) were also recorded. Once completed, the research data and findings were subjected to the close scrutiny of sex and polling experts — whose opinions were also incorporated into the study before the final research report was prepared.
The aim of the research was to discover the innermost thoughts and opinions of the Turkish people on the widest possible range of sexual subjects — and to determine Turkish values and judgements about sex and sexuality. The research attempted to investigate Turkish sexuality from multiple angles — and included topics that are still considered taboo, shameful, forbidden, or sinful in Turkey. In some cases it was difficult to get participants to speak out on such ’sensitive’ subjects.
Some striking headlines from the final research report…
As if to emphasize this tragicomic state of affairs, the survey also recorded comedy writer Metin Üstündag saying, “Most Turkish woman think Clitoris is the Capital of Singapore.”
In Part 2: More headlines from the research survey, plus… answers to the Sexuality Survey Question, ‘From whom did you receive your first sexual information?’
[Click following to access a fully illustrated HTML version of Turkish Kinsey Report - Part 1.]
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Jim and (co-author) Perihan Masters are a husband and wife team, living on the Aegean Coast of Turkey just 50 miles south of Izmir. Jim was born in Shanghai, China — of American military parentage. Peri was born on the Black Sea coast of Turkey near Trabzon, of Turkish military parentage…Enticed by a Financial Times advertisement, Jim joined a NATO sponsored enterprise in Ankara in 1974 where he met the beautiful and brainy Perihan, a rising young Turkish banking executive. Settled now in the heart of what was once the ancient Ionian Empire — the couple live an idyllic life by the sea.. writing, drawing and painting, teaching English, and providing computing service support to local businesses. They also sponsor the MSNBC award-winning Learning Practical Turkish Website which has built an enthusiastic international following of devoted Turkophiles and inquisitive language students of all ages.
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