Are women men like others – at least in their relationship to sexuality? For the vast majority of French, the answer is no. A month ago, an Ipsos-traumatic memory survey was discerning our rape-related representations: through the answers, we could also see the persistence of very powerful beliefs related to the differences of Genre.
Among the stereotypes that stand out from this survey, some lend to smile: Thus, two-thirds of the French think that a woman needs to be in love to sleep (rest in peace, tinder). Other answers are cold in the back: one in ten French believes that women like to be sexually forced and that when they say no they think yes (a down figure).
At two days of March 8 (who famous, I specify for the cancer, the International Day of Women’s Rights), the survival of these sexist clichés challenges. It also questions our most intimate practices. Thus, 53% of French people think that men have simpler sexuality than that of women – and almost as much (51%) believe that it is more difficult for a man to master his desire. Some stereotypes are more widely shared by men (they are twice as many to think that one can do their sex education by pornography), others are more widespread in women (11 more points for the idea that men have a lower perception of what constitutes a violent report).
To tap his head against the walls
What do these numbers reveal? To begin with, that our vision of the world purr, quietly installed in the 1950s (courage: it’s not our fault, it’s inertia). Despite the media breakthrough of gender and non-binary thinking, March and Venus are marvelous … Thirty years after the publication of John Gray’s bestseller (men come from March, women come from Venus, published in 1992). 96% of the French adhere to at least one sexist stereotype. Translation: 96% of us think that men and women work differently – and too bad for other reading grids: differences in age, attractiveness, income, conjugal status, preferences, etc.
In the face of these clichés, two possibilities: in smiling (“as it’s vintage, we are revented under General de Gaulle”) or tap his head against the walls. Exceptionally, I lean for the second solution. And this, for a simple reason: I believe (again) that sexuality brings us closer. However, these stereotypes, they move from us. They even draw up a wall between our representation of the world (“men and women are fundamentally different, especially during sexual intercourse”) and our sexual ideal (“differences between men and women disappear during sexual intercourse, at the favor of a miraculous fusion “).
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