the reasons for an unexpected decline

“And you did it?” This question is a chestnut on school benches, especially high school. By “do,” understand “make love” for the first time. If the expression has fallen into common language for decades, what does the act look like today? Is it still as full of emotions, impatience and apprehensions, compared to what our elders may have experienced? Not so sure. One thing is certain, however: the age of first relationships is increasing. In 2023, it will be 18.2 years for women and 17.7 years for men (compared to 17.3 years for both sexes in 2010). This is what the first results of the major Inserm and ANRS survey on French sexual behavior reveal – the fourth of its kind since 1970 – published on Wednesday November 13. Details with one of the co-leaders of the study, Armelle Andro, professor of demography at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

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The impact of Covid-19

This data did not fail to surprise the researchers. This is also “one of the major results of the survey”, confirms Armelle Andro. Among the first hypotheses invoked to explain the decline in age at first sexual intercourse, the demographer cites an event which affected populations on a global scale: the Covid-19 pandemic. “This period coincided for the last generations with their entry into sexuality. Except that the restrictions imposed, the confinements and the barrier gestures did not offer the best conditions for taking action,” observes Armelle Andro.

Another valuable lesson highlighted by the survey: young girls postpone the age of their first time more than boys. And here again, this gap could have widened within a “Covid generation”. “My colleague Nathalie Bajos (sociologist and research director at Inserm), who closely studied the impact of confinements and the pandemic, found that women, particularly the youngest, had been more respectful of the rules distancing than men during this period. Which could have pushed them to postpone their first time,” reports the professor of demography

Socio-economic obstacles to autonomy

But the repercussions of the pandemic are not the only avenues considered by researchers from Inserm and Anrs: as Armelle Andro points out, this postponement of the age of first intercourse had already begun in 2010 (17, 3 years for both sexes). At that time, young people were suffering the effects of another major crisis, that of the great economic recession of 2008. “This situation made their entry into adult life extremely complex,” recognizes the demographer, who considers this theory as the most credible. They no longer had as easy access to traditional life stages to gain autonomy: the ability to obtain a first job, a first home and therefore to leave the family home. All this has been postponed, and this deterioration in their living conditions has had a significant impact on their mental health, recognizes the demographer. It would therefore seem logical to us that this could also have affected their sexual life.

The new contours of the sexual experience

Reading about this late age, we can also wonder if this youth would not have simply become more prudish, more patient, more abstinent. There could be another explanation. If the first time remains symbolically charged in his mind, the contours of what defines sexuality fluctuate. “The mode of entry into sexuality has evolved, the first intercourse is no longer a central element of it but one stage among others,” indicates Armelle Andro. Qualitative studies confirm this, the young people aged 15 to 17 interviewed speak of the importance of “preliminaries” as a first experience of sexuality.

If young people adhere more to this non-penetrative sexuality, it is also because the repertoire of sexual practices has diversified at all ages, as evidenced by the Inserm-Anrs survey. And this development particularly affects women. “Previously, women reported masturbating more after becoming sexually active,” explains Armelle Andro. In 2023, they, especially the youngest, consider it as a phase of discovery of sexuality, well before their first time. This form of autosexuality, long attributed to young boys, could justify their wish to postpone first intercourse.

Young women seem to be moving more and more towards other sexual trajectories in which violence and inequalities are less prevalent.

Inserm-Anrs survey 2023

“If masturbation suits them, they may say to themselves that perhaps there is not so much need for boys,” suggests Armelle Andro. This is also one of the salient points of the Inserm-Anrs survey, which “testifies to the increasingly marked questioning of the heterosexual norm in representations and practices.” Thus, a significant proportion of young women aged 18 to 29 report, for example, an attraction to people of the same sex (32.3%). “In a social context marked by an increasing diffusion of feminist ideas, these young women seem to be moving more and more towards other sexual trajectories in which violence and inequalities are less prevalent,” note the authors of the study. in their conclusions.

Reading these data, we also wonder if the first sexual act – with or without penetration – does not play a role in the relationship we have with sex years later. “It is still too early to answer this question,” replies Armelle Andro, who confirms that numerous analyzes are underway to deepen the first observations of the study. These relate to the emotional and sexual paths of the declarants but also to the use of pornography, which we know is harmful among the youngest, or even consent. In-depth analyzes should be presented in a book to be published in 2026 by La Découverte, and will further shake up, we imagine, our preconceived ideas around this famous first time.