According to a new survey by the French Institute of Public Opinion, Generation Z women place less importance on sex and speak more openly about masturbation. More than half do not rule out relationships without sex.
“Sex is as important as food or drink,” said the French writer and libertine Marquis de Sade. “We must allow this impulse to be satisfied with the same lack of restrictions and false modesty as others.”
We are not sure what this 16th-century nobleman would say about a recent French study on sexuality, which clearly shows that the times and attitudes towards carnal pleasures have changed.
A new sociological study commissioned by the sex shop chain Espaceplaisir and conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop), which surveyed 1,011 women aged 15 to 29, revealed that the role of sex in the lives of young women is diminishing.
Only 38 percent of women aged 15 to 24 consider sexuality very important or even vital, down from 62 percent in 1990.
In the same age group, the proportion of young women who consider sex “necessary” has decreased from 14 to 9 percent over the same period.
These figures hardly change depending on whether the surveyed women identify as heterosexual, bisexual, or lesbian.
Almost 50 percent of Generation Z women also believe that sex does not play a significant role in their lives, and sometimes is not important at all.
Moreover, more than one in two surveyed women (52 percent) stated that they “could continue living with a partner without sex.” Among respondents aged 18 to 24, 56 percent said they would consider platonic relationships with their partners.
According to François Cro, director of the policy and current affairs department at Ifop, “the trend towards diminishing significance of sexuality is likely part of a counter-cyclical shift compared to the phase of ‘hypersexualization’ in the 1980s and 1990s.”
As reported by Radiofrance (source in English), Cro explains that the new generation is more focused on quality than quantity, adding that “we are also seeing the influence of feminist discourse, which is restoring a certain legitimacy to female pleasure.”
The study published the day before also showed that 62 percent of women aged 20 to 24 admitted: they sometimes feel bored during sex, compared to 42 percent in 1996. At the same time, 74 percent of women aged 18 to 24 stated that they are “satisfied” with their sex lives.
Commenting on this data, Ifop noted that such a result is partly explained by “the remarkable growth in the use of sex toys.”
This trend “can be explained by the fact that sexual relationships with a partner have become more fulfilling. And even if that is not the case, considering that over the last approximately forty years the frequency of masturbation has tripled and the use of sex toys has become commonplace, women have alternative ways to achieve satisfaction in this area,” says Cro.
Indeed, according to the study, 36 percent of women aged 18 to 24 have already used sex toys on their own, compared to 30 percent in 2017.
Ifop also noted that the results of the new survey show that the notion of marital duty in the form of obligatory sex is still deeply rooted. A bill to abolish the norm of so-called “marital rights” – the idea that marriage implies an obligation to have sex – was approved by deputies and senators in the National Assembly earlier this year.
The bill, approved in January, amends the country’s civil code to state that “cohabitation” does not create an “obligation to engage in sexual relations.”
“By maintaining such a right or obligation, we collectively endorse a system of domination and predatory behavior of the husband towards the wife,” said Green Party deputy and bill author Marie-Charlotte Garin. “Marriage cannot be a bubble in which consent to sex is considered final and given for life.”
