“Sex is as important as eating or drinking,” said French writer and libertine Marquis de Sade. “We ought to allow the one appetite to be satisfied with as little restraint or false modesty as the other.”
We’re not sure what the 16th century nobleman would have made of a recent French sex study, which clearly shows that times and attitudes towards carnal pleasures have evolved.
A new opinion poll commissioned by sex shop chain Espaceplaisir and led by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop), which surveyed a total of 1,011 women aged between 15 and 29, has found that the importance of sex in young women’s lives is waning.
Only 38 per cent of women aged between 15 to 24 felt that sexuality was very important or even essential, compared to 62 per cent in 1990.
Within the same age group and the same time period, the proportion of young women for whom sex is “essential” has fallen from 14 per cent to 9 per cent.
These percentages vary little depending on whether the women surveyed identify as heterosexual, bisexual or lesbian.
Similarly, nearly 50 per cent of Gen Z women feel that sex is not that important in their lives, or even not important at all.
Additionally, more than one in two (52 per cent) women surveyed said they “could continue living with someone without having sex”. A total of 56 per cent of respondents aged between 18 and 24 said they could envisage a platonic relationship with their partners.
According to François Kraus, director of the Politics / Current Affairs division at Ifop, “the trend towards a de-emphasis on sexuality is likely part of a counter-cyclical shift compared to the phase of ‘hypersexualisation’ of the 1980s and 1990s”.
As reported by Radiofrance, Kraus explains that the new generation is more focused on quality than quantity, adding that “we are also seeing the impact of feminist discourse, which is restoring a certain legitimacy to female pleasure”.
The survey, published yesterday, also revealed that a total of 62 per cent of women aged between 20 and 24 said they sometimes felt bored during sex, compared with 42 per cent in 1996. However, 74 per cent of women aged 18 to 24 said they were “satisfied” with their sex lives
Commenting on this, Ifop stated that this result is in part due to a “spectacular intensification of the use of sex toys.”
This trend “can be explained by the fact that sexual relations with a partner are more fulfilling. And even if they aren’t, with masturbation having tripled over the past forty years or so and the use of sex toys having become widely accepted, there are alternative ways for women to find fulfilment in this area,” says Krauss.
Indeed, the study showed that 36 per cent of women aged 18 to 24 have already used a sex toy on their own, compared with 30 per cent in 2017.
Ifop also said the results of this new poll showed that the notion of marital duty to have sex remains entrenched. A bill to scrap the law of so-called “conjugal rights” – the notion that marriage means a duty to have sex – was approved by MPs and senators in the National Assembly earlier this year.
The bill approved in January adds a clause to the country’s civil code to make clear that “community of living” does not create an “obligation for sexual relations”.
“By allowing such a right or duty to persist, we are collectively giving our approval to a system of domination and predation by husband on wife,” said Green MP and the bill’s sponsor Marie-Charlotte Garin. “Marriage cannot be a bubble in which consent to sex is regarded as definitive and for life.”
Additional sources • IFOP, RADIOFRANCE