Random reminder

Press, 7 June 1980, Page 20

Random reminder

YOU TAKES YOUR CHOICE . . .

“The popular foreign myth that Swedes are sexy has taken a knock with the publication of the most comprehensive survey of . the nation’s sex life. .in the survey, only 28 per cent of men and women interviewed thought that sex was the main source of happiness. Fortynine per cent said it was not. and 23 per cent did not know.” — “The Press,” 10/4/80.. We can understand the positions of the 28 per cent who thought that sex was the main source of happiness, and the 49 per cent who said it was not. There is no saying which of them is right, but at least they know what they think about sex in comparison with other sources of happiness. (We ourselves are among the 49 per cent. We think that the main source of happiness is not, as with sex, • doing something that you want to do. The main source of happiness is being supplied with a’ valid excuse for not doing something that you ought to do.) But we are certainly confused ourselves by the confusion of the 23 per cent who do not know whether sex is the main source of happiness or not. People ought to know what is the main source of happiness in their

lives. We mean, it is perfectly possible to like both sex and scallops au gratin a la dieppoise. And they are, of course, ' quite separate sources of pleasure', (unless you are inventive enough to be able to enjoy both sex and scallops au gratin a la dieppoise at the same time, in which case a confused answer to the survey would be understandable.) But by and large, people ought to be : able to say which gives them more ; pleasure, sex or scallops au gratin a la ! dieppoise. To be unable to rate these . two sources of pleasure in comparison with each other suggests a : dangerously disordered perception of the external world and its sensual i pleasures, in which sex becomes confused with scallops au gratin a la : dieppoise, to the ultimate disadvantage of both. Probably there is a very simple answer. Probably the 23 per cent of . Swedes who don’t know whether sex is the main source of happiness are those Swedes who for reasons of . extreme youth, religious vocation or personal disinclination have never undertaken it. Tn which case we can recommend to them the scallops au gratin a la dieppoise.