FRANCE: More Sex Please, We're French

PARIS, France (Time.com), March 10, 2008: What could be more French than sex? More sex, as it turns out — especially if you happen to be a woman. Nearly 40 years after France's May 1968 revolution spawned the slogan "pleasure without obstruction," a new study finds that the French of both genders are engaging in more varied and frequent sex than ever before — and both earlier and later into life. Yet perhaps the most significant finding in the report is that French women have been playing serious sexual catch-up with their male counterparts since the last national sex survey in 1992. ...... According to the new 600-page "Study of Sexuality in France," commissioned by France's National Research Agency on AIDS, both the number of partners and diversity of sexual activity has significantly increased in France in the last decade. ...... (About) 90% of women over the age of 50 say they remain sexually active, a big jump from 50% in 1970. ...... By Bruce Crumley These are extracts. See TIME report Copyright © 2008 Time Inc.