Thai teens keen on sex on V-Day

Bangkok: A third of Thai teenage girls think Valentine's Day is an excellent time to lose their virginity, and police in Bangkok are out to stop them.

Police in the capital, famous around the world for its fleshpots, will enforce a 10 at night curfew on February 14 after a poll of teenagers was published last week.

Love-struck teenagers would be sent home or taken to a police station to wait for their parents to fetch them on Wednesday night, Bangkok Deputy Police Chief Kamol Kaewsuwan said.

"Love is nice and beautiful, but it does not necessarily involve sexual engagement. Teenagers would do better focusing on school," Kamol said of the curfew.

Police would also be on the look out for public displays of affection by under-18 youths hanging out in shopping malls, cinemas and other entertainment venues on Valentine's Day.

"Hugging and kissing in public places are indecent," said Police Colonel Chokechai Deeprasertvith, who heads a special unit to fight crimes against children, youths and women.

The Assumption Univesity poll of 1,578 teenagers published last week found one third of teenage girls were willing to have sex on Valentine's Day if their boyfriends asked.

Another survey of 1,222 youths by the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce found 11 per cent planned to lose their virginity on Wednesday night. Nearly 51 per cent said they would not have sex.

It's not the first time predominantly Buddhist Thailand has tried a social order crusade popular with the middle class, many of whom are uncomfortable with public sexuality and support moves to rein in anything-goes Bangkok.

A short-lived 2004 morality compaign under former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra cut the operating hours of go-go bars, nightclubs and massage parlours despite warnings it would hit the country's lucrative tourist trade.

Recently, university student and budding movie starlet Chotiros Suriyawong was rebuked for wearing a revealing sexy black dress to Thailand's version of the Oscars.

"Society feels this is a disgrace and her actions have affected the reputation of this university," Suraphol Nitikraipot, rector of the prestigious Thammasat University, was quoted as saying by the Nation newspaper on Tuesday.