The French are having less and less sex.
- The proportion of French people who have had sex in the last 12 months has never been so low in fifty years: 76% on average, a drop of 15 points since 2006.
- This rise in sexual inactivity particularly affects young people.
- If the factors of these developments are multiple, digital technology is nevertheless at the heart of this problem.
According to a new study by Ifop for LELO, the French are having less and less sexual relations.
The proportion of French people who have had sex in the last 12 months has never been so low in fifty years: 76% on average, a drop of 15 points since 2006.
Sex: young French people are less and less active
This rise in sexual inactivity particularly affects young people: more than a quarter of 18/24 year olds who have been sexually initiated (28%) admit to not having had sex in one year, which is five times more than in 2006 (5 %).
The sexual activity of our population is also losing intensity if we judge by the drop in the weekly frequency of sexual intercourse. Thus, today, 43% of French people report having sexual intercourse per week on average, compared to 58% in 2009.
“In a context marked by a revolution in the relationship to consent, French women are much less willing to force themselves to make love than 40 years ago: 52% of women aged 18 to 49 say that it happens to them to make love without wanting to, compared to 76% in 1981”, also note the authors of the survey.
“More than half of adult women (54%, compared to 42% of men) say they could continue to live with someone in a purely platonic relationship, a proportion that has increased significantly over around forty years among adults. women under 50 (+14 points compared to 1981)”, they add. .
Another lesson from the survey: 62% of French women today attach importance to sexuality in their lives, compared to 82% in 1996. Asexuality is also a sexual orientation now accepted by 12% of French people.
The French prefer digital to sex
If the factors of these developments are multiple, digital technology is nevertheless at the heart of this problem.
“When we question young people under 35 living as a couple under the same roof, half of the men (50%, compared to 42% of women) admit to having already avoided sexual intercourse to watch a series/film on television (e.g. Netflix, OCS…)”, can we read in the report. “And we find this competition for other leisure activities such as video games – preferred over sex by 53% of men under 35 living as a couple – or social networks (preferred over sex by 48% of men under 35 years living as a couple)”, is also written by members of Ifop.
They explain in conclusion: “this study has the merit of highlighting the gap between the sexual reality of the French and media stereotypes which still too often tend to associate good sexuality to a hectic sex life. After years of hypersexualization of society, the 2010/2020 decades mark the beginning of a new cycle where the constraint to have a sexual life to “pleasure” or “like everyone else” is becoming less strong. .
The study was carried out by online questionnaire from December 29, 2023 to January 2, 2024 with a sample of 1,911 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over.
