Not sure if one should kiss on the first date? Wondering what to do on the first night? Now information about sex and relationships is only a click away. Love Matters, a mobile website hosted by Radio Netherlands Worldwide in partnership with DKT condoms, claims to have all the answers.
“Thirty thousand people search ‘How to kiss’ every day on Google! So there’s a real need to get that kind of information out there,” said Michele Ernsting, head of Love Matters. The website works on the premise that the sexual and reproductive decisions made by today’s youth will have great impact on their personal lives and on society.
“The site is not raunchy, it is informative and being anonymous helps in more sharing, leading to better sex lives,” said 21-year-old Josy Stevens (name changed), an engineering student.
Targeting the website towards India, where sex is still a taboo subject, has not been a cake walk. Love Matters provides easy to access information and news on everything related to sex to a young audience around the world.
The team had to face many hurdles while building the Hindi website (www.lovematters.in). “We had to coin a term for female masturbation. There was no way of saying it in Hindi! We have to wade through a lot of cultural barriers,” says Ms. Ernsting.
People post blogs and queries which are answered by ‘Auntyji’, an expert on sexual health and sexuality. She represents a motherly figure guiding the young generation. “I have myself posted many times and the best part is the simple framework of the site. Also, Sex A-Z is like a youth encyclopaedia encompassing a wide range of topics— from alcohol to pornography and from erection to virginity,” said 22-year-old Rajvi Desai, a student in a business school.
“At Love Matters, we are glad to be friends with DKT because we think they do a great job at making sure everyone has access to birth control and safer sex at a price they can afford. So people can make choices about their lives,” says Vithika Yadav, head of Love Matters India operations.
The website has gone viral in India and there are now plans of launching editions in Africa, Middle East and China.
