Nathalie Bajos, sociologist (Inserm-EHESS), and Armelle Andro, demographer (Université Paris-1), are part of the research team that made public, on Wednesday, November 13, the first results of the survey “Context of sexualities” . France “ (Inserm, ANRS-Infectious Diseases). It is the fourth of its kind, after the editions of 1970, 1992 and 2006. The result of five years of work, it is based on the responses of more than 31,500 people between 15 and 89 years old, interviewed between November 2022 and December 2023. , about their practices, their representations and their sexual trajectories -among others-. Based on the thousands of responses collected, the two experts provide their first analyzes on the mutations of “sexual landscape”that moves towards a “greater equality between sexes and sexualities”even if they temper, “inequalities, violence and discrimination” persist.
Almost twenty years separate us from the previous study on sexualities in France. What characterizes this one?
Nathalie Bajos: One of the most surprising results is what could be described as “contemporary paradox of sexuality”. It is characterized by an increasing diversity of sexual practices and partners, as well as a lower intensity of sexual activity. We have, for example, on the one hand, the expansion of sexual repertoires (such as the most frequent resort to masturbation, oral and anal penetration), an increasing number of couples, practices that extend to digital spaces and, On the other hand, a certain number of indicators are decreasing, such as the frequency of sexual relations, less marked among people who are in a relationship. In short: greater diversity but less intensity.
Armelle Andro: The frequency of sexual relations has decreased over time for both sexes and in all age groups: people who have had sexual relations during the year report, on average, 6 sexual relations in the last four weeks for women, 6 .7 for men, compared to, respectively, 8.6 and 8.7 in 2006. And yet, sexual satisfaction does not decrease; On the contrary, it is increasing slightly. And women always say they are a little more satisfied than men. In 2023, 45.3% of women and 39% of men say they “very satisfied” of his sexual life.
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