WOMEN in Singapore do not like being associated with condoms - more so than women in the West. According to a survey commissioned by The Body Shop and MTV Networks International, seven out of 10 Singapore women polled believed it is a man's job to provide contraceptives, while a third of all the women surveyed believed that carrying a condom would mark them as being 'easy'.

In Singapore, a mere two per cent of women carry condoms on a night out compared to 15 per cent of the men surveyed. On the other hand, half of all women polled in western countries take the responsibility of providing contraceptives.

These findings, released by MTV and The Body Shop on Saturday, may mean that there's a potentially dangerous situation in Asia, brought on by "the stigma of buying and carrying condoms, and timidity when it comes to refusing unprotected sex".

Mr Georgia Arnold, senior vice-president of social responsibility of MTV International, said: "This survey shows that differences between men and women remain powerful. Too many women make carrying a condom the man's responsibility for fear of being labelled 'loose'.

"The result is that both sexes put themselves at risk. Both need to take more responsibility for their sexual health."

The survey results were revealed at the launch of the Move Your Lips campaign to raise awareness of HIV and Aids among young people.

The campaign is raising funds for MTV's Staying Alive Foundation HIV and Aids education efforts through the sale of The Body Shop's Limited Edition Guarana Lip Butter, in over 60 countries.

MTV is supporting the efforts by running TV advertisements across all its networks to over 508 million households in 160 countries.

The survey was done in 10 countries: South Africa, Singapore, Mexico, Sweden, India, UK, Russia, Hong Kong, Germany and USA. In each country, 200 young people aged 16 to 24 took part.

To qualify for the survey, respondents had to have had at least one sexual experience. All interviews were carried out online and took place between Feb 8 and Feb 15 this year.

Interestingly, among men, some are reluctant to carry a condom because of superstition.

About 36 per cent of male respondents felt that if they go out to 'score' and carry a condom, they will fail.