thiruvananthapuram if a woman is on birth control does that make her sexually unfaithful the recently released national family health survey nfhs5 201921 india report of the union health ministry shows that kerala has the highest percentage of men in the country who think along this line raising serious questions about the muchhyped progressive nature of the statethe chapter related to mens contraception about perceptions and knowledge by stateunion territory shows that 441 of men in kerala agree that women who use contraception may become promiscuous only 196 of men agree with this statement nationally the union territories of chandigarh and lakshadweep 437 and the state of punjab are the only other regions in the country with 40 or above men who agree that the use of contraception may make a woman promiscuousin kerala men aged between 4549 and 3034 are more likely to support this statementthe lowest percentage of men in kerala who agree with the connection between licentious behaviour and the use of birth control was found among the youngest age group 1519among castetribes men belonging to other caste and other backward class have the highest percentage who agree with this statement while scheduled tribe men have the lowest percentage who correlated promiscuity and contraception the survey results show that education hardly plays a part in shaping such thoughts the highest percentage of men in kerala 464 who attribute promiscuity to contraception in women have completed 12 or more years of schooling religionwise hindu men have the highest percentage who agree with this perceptionpublic health specialists say that this kind of perception among men in kerala is hardly surprising there is a glorified idea about malayalee sensibility the truth is that kerala men are not so distinct from other men in the country at the same time surveys have various aspects like we have to take into account the population that was surveyed said dr mohan roy psychiatrist and rmo medical college thiruvananthapuramthe finding has left gynaecologists puzzled when we talk to couples husbands are more concerned about the chance of reversibility while using contraceptives and how it is going to affect the health of women the promiscuity factor seldom comes in said dr jayasree v vaman professor in obstetrics gynaecology govt medical college alleppeytoi did not receive a reply to email seeking comments from dr ks james one of the contributors to the survey report and director of the international institute for population sciences