SEX IS BRITS FAVOURITE FREE ACTIVITY,FRENCH NEED BIG CONDOMS

People may be tightening their belts to cope with the credit crunch, but their favourite free leisure activity involves whipping off their undies for a quick roll in the hay, a new poll showed on Monday. Skip related content

However the overall figure disguised a stark difference between men and women, with female respondents preferring a good gossip to a good time between the sheets.

According to an online YouGov survey, 37 percent of people rank having sex at the top of their list of activities that don't cost a penny.

That was more than the next three highest options combined -- gossiping with friends (18 percent), window shopping (nine percent) and going to a museum (six percent).

"During the credit crunch our famed British upper lip might not be as stiff as before but other parts still are," said Lisa Power, head of policy at the Terrence Higgins Trust, the sexual health charity that commissioned the poll.

However, while 53 percent of men ranked sex as number one, only 21 percent of women put sex top of their list, with 28 percent saying they preferred gossiping with friends.

It also showed that passion levels may be tied to the cold weather, with 43 percent of Scots rating sex as their favourite free passtime, compared to 35 percent of Londoners.

In a separate study, the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex found that declining house prices was increasing the risk of divorce.

The study, published in September, found that "negative house price shocks significantly increase the risk of partnership dissolution".

The YouGov survey interviewed 2,144 people over the Internet between November 21 and 23.

MEANWHILE

French say they need biggest condoms

The French say they need the largest condoms in Europe while Greeks get by on smaller ones, according to a Europe-wide study by a German consultancy that provides advice on condoms. Skip related content

The study by the Singen-based Institute of Condom Consultancy was done by asking 10,500 men in 25 countries to measure their penis and enter the number into a database.

The results show Frenchmen on average claim to need 15.48-cm (6.09-inch) long condoms, about 3 cm longer than Greeks, whose condom-size requirement was the most modest.

Jan Vinzenz Krause, the institute's director, told Reuters Friday the data was collected over a period of eight months.

He did not want to comment on how honest he thought the Frenchmen had been in reporting the data.

The survey was aimed at educating youngsters about the importance of effective contraception.

The institute also offers online condom-size advice and hosts "Pimp Your Condom" -- an annual fair organised in cooperation with the national Aids Trust -- with the aim of educating teens about sexually transmitted diseases.

Krause was in the spotlight in the past when he produced a prototype of the "spray-on condom" -- an aerosol can which contains latex that creates a perfectly fitting condom. But the idea was not developed further.

SOURCE: Yahoo! News