Travelers beware: If planning to travel to France in search of your fantasy French lover with all the right oh-la-la moves, you might first want to read a report released this week indicating that the French aren’t as into sex as they used to be.
France, it appears, is in the midst of a “sexual recession.” Or is it a depression given that the decline in sexuality activity has been going on for nearly two decades now?
The country’s major opinion polling company Ifop (Institut français d’opinion publique) leads off the summary of its recent findings by stating: “The proportion of French who’ve had sexual relations over the past 12 months hasn’t been so low in 50 years: on average 76%, i.e. a decrease of 15 points since 2006 (CSF study).”*
If true, that places the annual rate of sexual activity of those 18 and over at a lower level than during the pill-fueled sexual revolution. The Simon Report of 1970 places the figure at a then-rising 82%.
The study further found that the so-called sexual recession is particularly marked for 18-24-year-olds, among whom 28% of those filling out the questionnaire who had declared themselves to be “sexually initiated” stated that they had not had relations in the previous year. That compares with only 5% saying so in 2006. It could be that early gen y’ers were more likely to lie on questionnaires than gen z’ers, that is if you consider sexual activity once per year to be brag-worthy. How about once per week? The study found that 43% of respondents declared having sexual activity on average once per week. In 2009 that figure was 59%.
The study sees increasing screen time as one cause of the decline. Indeed, when was the time you used the term “digital” to refer to anything but electronics?
The increased awareness of the notion of consent in physical relations is also presented as playing a part in the reported decrease of sexual activity. In that respect, the poll notably found that among women 18-49 years old, 52% stated that they sometimes made love without desiring to do so, compared with 76% in 1981.
“After years of hypersexuality,” the study concludes in its summary, “the decades of 2010/2020 mark the start of a new cycle” with less of a cultural emphasis on “active sexuality [as] an essential component of a successful life or, in any case, of a harmonious couple.” Many women, in particular, don’t feel “obligated to respond to the sexual desire of their partner” and fewer men now see “a strong libido [as] an essential element of their masculinity.”
Before you change your travel plans to pursue your erotic dream vacation in, say, Italy instead France, note that this so-called sexual recession is not a phenomenon specific to France as it has been found in studies elsewhere in Europe and in the United States.
A full report of the study, in French, can be found here. The Ifop study was based on a sample of 1911 people representing the population of metropolitan France 18 and older.
*Translation of quotes from the study are by Gary Lee Kraut as is the image above.