[WestIndianArchie]

On the nation state level. Inspired by the Turkey thread.

In this era, is it possible for a nation that is sexually repressed to compete with Western decadence?

Is China the only significant country with economic growth and "official" puritanical views on sex?

WIA

[RichieP]

Sexual decadence follows a high average quality of life combined with prevalent civil liberties and rights. Places tend to open up sexually as they develop.

China is an economic powerhouse because of it's absolute size - 1.35 bil - not it's GDP per capita (7k usd). The average person is still relatively poor. So it's arguably not a "developed" country, despite Beijing and Shanghai having higher GDP than entire nearby countries. It's the average development that matters, because that's what enables nationwide civil liberties --> sexual decadence. China's average development/quality of life is still low.

There are many other significant countries with high growth, good economic prospects, and traditional sexual norms - several in South East Asia in fact - however none are as singularly big as China. GDP of SEA as a whole is equal to only 1/3rd of China's.

TL; DR - I say sexual decadence is more correlated with PPP per capita than anything else, if you remove the oil states (essentially recent lottery winners - didn't follow an organic growth path):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co...per_capita

[WestIndianArchie]

Good stuff Richie P.

Just based on these variables, Would you bet on Malaysia/Indonesia over Thailand?

WIA

[RichieP]

I think if any of them ever get above whatever threshold PPP per capita is needed for sexual decadence, we could see it.

But I doubt that any of them will even reach the economic threshold any time soon. Malaysia is stuck in a "middle income" trap, Thailand looks very much like it is too, and Indonesia is alot further behind. I think none of them will truly have the national economic foundation for sexual decadence within the next 20-30 years. I expect their growth to slow and all to linger in middle-income, below the level of development needed for true widespread sexual decadence.

It seems very hard for other asian countries to replicate the growth path of Japan/Korea to true first-world levels. Might have been exceptions, rather than the rule.

However, if we're talking "what the upper-middle classes and beyond get up to in the capital cities behind closed doors", well, that's another issue.