For those who may have thought the French were always a little more, hmmmm, you know, open about sex, the latest Le Nouvel Observateur may come as something of a shock. The cover of France's leading weekly magazine of news and opinion--entitled "The New Sexuality of the French"--suggests the country is still coming to grips with the revolution in morals and manners that began 40 years ago in, you guessed it, that pivotal year of Boomer consciousness: 1968. The ensemble of stories includes everything from small talk about deep thinking--an interview with the aging nouveau philosophe Alain Finkielkraut--to a survey of sex toys. Some, we're told, "are useful for relieving stress."
The core of the coverage, however, is built around a survey of 12,364 men and women aged 18 to 69 conducted by the French National Agency for AIDS Research. It's a follow-up on a similar study done in 1992, and the changes revealed are more evolutionary than revolutionary: The traditional idea of men as predators and women "waiting for the warrior at the entrance to the cave," as the Nouvel Obs writes blandly, "just won't fly anymore. Henceforth, women want to take part in the hunt." Backing that up are numbers that show men have about the same number of sexual partners over a lifetime today (12.9) as they did in 1970 (12.8), while the number of partners for women has increased from an average 1.9 in 1972 to 5.1 today.
With respect to gays, some prejudice endures and homosexual practice, at least as shared with those conducting the survey, seems to be pretty much the same as it's been for years: 4 percent of women say they have sexual relations with other women, compared with 2.6 percent in 1992; among men the numbers are unchanged at 4.1 percent. "The development of tolerance as a matter of principle, which is especially pronounced among the young, has not been enough to produce radical changes in private attitudes toward homosexuality," says the research agency's report.
And sexual practices? There's nothing in Le Nouvel Obs, in fact, about French kissing. But there are many other details about preferred approaches to sexual intercourse--or not, as the case may be. A checklist:
Masturbation: Practiced by 90 percent of men, from a very young age, and by 60 percent of women, who start later.
Oral sex: Massively entered into common practice in the years 1990-2000. From the age of 25 onward, two-thirds of women perform fellatio. As for cunnilingus, 85 percent of men and women have tried it.
Anal penetration: Still a minority. However, 35 percent of women and 45 percent of men have had the experience, which is more than in 1992.
Lovemaking without any penetration at all: One in five women and one in three men surveyed have had this experience at least once in their sexual encounters.
The first time: Outdoors, on the beach, in the woods or in the fields when we are talking about older people. Then, in the car. Today, at their parents' home or in a room loaned by friends.
Condoms: 90 percent of young people today use them the first time they have sex. One person out of two has been tested already for HIV. Less encouraging, on the other hand, those 26 percent of heterosexual men and 32 percent of women who have had two or more partners over the last year and are unprotected.
Internet: Henceforth an integral part of the amorous landscape. Ten percent of women and 13 percent of men questioned already are connected to dating sites. The girls as much as, or even more than, the boys.
Frequency: As in 1992, both women and men say they are having on average nine sexual encounters a month. And 90 percent of them are satisfied.
(Photo shows a bookseller displaying vintage sex magazines alongside the Seine. Credit: Christopher Dickey)
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