Was there sex in the USSR?

At one time the world flew the phrase: "There is no sex in the USSR". A fragment from the TV program, where it was played, was repeated on all channels to emphasize the degree of sanctimony and firmness of the Soviet people. But then what really happened?

After the reform announced in 1986, which was called Perestroika, television bridges came into fashion. People sitting in two studios In the USA and Soviet Union shared their impressions of life, and Soviet and Western cultures tried to establish a dialogue after the long Cold War period. One of the first TV shows of this plan, organized by Vladimir Pozdner and Phil Donahue, was about adult films. The American representative was for some reason very interested in this issue.

Ludmila Ivanova, a USSR participant, who worked at that time as an administrator of the Leningrad Hotel and former activist of the Committee of Soviet Women, decided to answer the American woman. She said there was no sex in the country, and citizens were categorically against it. Laughter and applause in both studios were so loud that the end of the phrase was completely muffled. But Ludmila said that there is love in the country and gave an example of how during the Vietnam War, American women continued to sleep with their men.

When the show ended, Ivanova asked to cut out her statement, but the operator liked the words too much and left them. After the broadcast, the phrase became popular.

The word "sex", contrary to popular belief, is not just sexual intercourse, it's the whole list of interactions, covering the relationship between the sexes based on the instinct to continue the genus. So it is quite difficult to decide whether the replica was a symbol of sanctimony in the USSR or not.