The global sexual wellbeing survey

The French, who have always treated seduction as art, were startled yesterday to learn that they have the world’s second most dreary sex lives – after the Japanese.

In a 26-country survey which shows that even the British are happier in bed, only 25 per cent of French men and women report that they are sexually satisfied. Forty percent of Britons profess satisfaction, still well behind the champions, Nigerians (67 per cent) and Mexicans (63 per cent).

To make things worse, the French are among the most energetic performers, making love 120 times a year, compared with 92 for the British and 164 for the Greeks, who top the 26-nation league.

Sexologists and other experts yesterday tried to explain the situation, which emerged from a survey of 26,000 people by the British firm Harris Interactive. “The French have rested on their laurels,” said Sylvain Mimoun, the Director of Andrology at the Cochin Hospital, Paris. “They know that the French are famous as lovers and forget to maintain what they have by thinking of the other person and achieving harmony rather than just performance.

“It’s like a mountaineer who has reached the summit of Everest and then takes a rest in a chaise longue. If he stays there too long he loses the ability to climb.”

The French do make less effort, the survey found, concluding their sexual acts in 14 minutes, compared with 16 for the British and 24 for Nigerians, who linger longest.

Lack of desire has recently become an issue in France, as in other nations, with experts worried that the pressure of modern life is dampening Gallic ardour. France’s sense of economic and political decline has not helped, they say.

But, as elsewhere, the increasing independence of women is blamed for frightening off men. Responding to the Sexual Wellbeing survey, commissioned by Durex, the condom makers, Lucy Vincent, a Paris neurobiologist, said that the testosterone level of Frenchmen was declining in response to women’s emancipation. “That is not very good for desire,” she noted.

Many Frenchwomen concur about the poor performance of Frenchmen. “Guys make love very badly these days,” said Christine de Bellefonds, a dictionary editor from the Left Bank of Paris. “They’re so scared they don’t even pretend to act loving.”

Some defended France from a cultural perspective. According to this view the French have higher standards than most when they rate their sex lives.

“Making international comparisons is a delicate business because the meaning of pleasure depends on the country,” said Nathalie Bajos, who coordinated a survey of French sex life for the national statistics institute last winter.

Jacques Waynberg, the director of the Paris Institute of Sexology, made a link with Japan’s abysmal view of its sexual performance. “France and Japan have a long erotic tradition and therefore set high standards,” he said.

Sack race

67%: Nigerians are the world’s most satisfied lovers

63%: Mexicans are not far behind

61%: Lovers in India clearly know something their rivals do not

54%: The Poles are the happiest Europeans in the bedroom

38%: Sexual satisfaction in Germany is below average

25%: Alors! French lovers are asking what went wrong

15%: Japanese lovers are the world’s least satisfied . . . but their cars are very reliable

Source: Durex global survey

Times recommends

• It is possible to look stylish while pregnant
• Britain’s tot models
• Who and what benefits from the heat wave?