Among all the effects caused by the Covid-19, one of the most silent is perhaps the decline in sexual relations. In Malaysia, the president of the largest condom company in the world, Karex, which produces one in five condoms in the world, scrutinizes this on all continents.
With our correspondent in Kuala Lumpur, Gabrielle Marshals
At Karex, the Covid-19 was initially synonymous with effervescence, with the workforce reduced by the confinements in Malaysia and a increase in demand in early 2020 which raised fears of a worldwide shortage of contraceptives. But two years later, sales have dropped by 40% and its director Goh Miah Kiat tells a completely different story.
“ We might have thought that during the confinements, people would have more sexual relations. But, on the contrary, sexual activity has reduced, particularly because of economic anxiety, he believes. If you’re afraid of losing your job, you generally don’t really want to make love. »
The closure of hotels, a privileged place for occasional or official couples and going, in certain countries, to love motel to have intimacy, has also been directly correlated with the decline in the sale of condoms. ” Lack of space is globally a big problem, especially in South American countries or Hong Kong. If, for example, you live in promiscuity with eight under one roof and you are locked up in your home for a long time, well, you don’t have that much space to have privacy, explains Goh Miah Kiat again. The problem has been even greater for non-established couples, especially in countries where bars have closed, human interactions have drastically dropped. »
Another factor explaining this drop in sales of condoms, the situation of quasi-technical unemployment in which prostitution could find itself and the drastic reduction of public markets which normally try to fight against sexually transmitted diseases by distributing condoms.