To coincide with the publication of the second volume of “Fifty Shades of Grey”, Femme Actuelle commissioned Ifop to carry out a major survey on French women’s relationship with erotic literature and the various sexual games, objects and experiences likely to arouse their desire or spice up their married life. The first study carried out in France on the “mommy p¤rn” phenomenon, this survey confirms women’s attraction to erotic games and accessories (soft SM, sex toys, etc.) long confined to a public of initiates or sex-shop enthusiasts.
The female readership’s infatuation with a novel like “Fifty Shades of Grey” tends to blur the differences in erotic consumption observed between the sexes, which until now confined p¤rnography to men and romance novels and magazines to women. While they have long been the female equivalent of p¤rnography, without offering explicit sexual content, romance novels are now evolving to include “rare” or “transgressive” sexual practices, all the more easily because they correspond to fantasies or practices in vogue among women. Admittedly, the “S&M” sexual games mentioned in the book remain a minority form of female sexuality. But women’s desire to experiment with new scenarios that break with the relative banality of everyday sexual life makes them a source of creativity and diversification of conjugal pleasure. So, like certain mechanical objects or technological tools, these games contribute to the development of a more diversified erotic life. If the “mommy p¤rn” is part of a more global movement towards eroticization in contemporary literature, which also affects other types of cultural production (media, advertising, etc.), this phenomenon goes hand in hand with a broadening of French women’s sexual repertoire.
Some key figures
The trend for French women to broaden their sexual repertoire is confirmed, with “soft” SM practices clearly on the rise: one woman in four says she has already been spanked by her partner (24%), compared with 8% in 1985.
On the other hand, the practice of more “hard” erotic games of domination or submission, such as bondage and S&M, remains as marginal as ever (5% today, 3% in 1985).
Over the past half-dozen years, the use of sex toys has become widespread among the French population. Today, more than one in three women (38%) admit to having used them, compared with just 14% in 2009 and 7% in 2007.
To spice up married life, more than one in two women (51%) would be tempted to make love in a public place (elevator, toilet, park…).
Reading erotic books is now a widespread practice among women: almost six out of ten women (59%) admit to having read an erotic book in their lifetime, compared with just over one in three in 1970 (38%).
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