An introduction to bizarre French sexual politics

“More sex please, we are French,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, calling on his compatriots to counteract a catastrophic collapse in the birth rate. France’s fertility is at its lowest level since the end of World War II – perhaps ironic since the French consider themselves the world’s greatest lovers.

Macron has announced a “demographic upgrade” for the country, including free fertility checks for young people and new paid maternity and paternity benefits. New parents, including fathers, can take three months off and get half their salary paid up to 1,900 euros, which could lead to a baby bonus of 11,400 euros per family. Will it really make a big difference?

Since this is the état bénévole par excellence, there is already an alphabet soup of benefits associated with parenthood – the “prestation d’accueil du jeune enfant” (Paje), a “prestation partagée d’éducation de l’enfant” ( PreParE) and an “allocation journalistière de presence parentale” (AJPP). There is no child benefit in France for the first child, but the second child receives up to 184 euros per month and three can earn up to 277 euros more depending on income.

Nevertheless, these allocations do not appear to have significantly stimulated fertility. Since the number of women of childbearing age has only declined slightly in recent years, the decline in births can be explained primarily by a decline in the desire to have children and the means to avoid them through contraception or abstinence. After a slight increase in 2021, driven by a recovery in births delayed by the first wave of Covid in 2020 (the most disruptive), fertility here has resumed its downward trend. With an extraordinary annual decline from 1.79 children per woman in 2022 to 1.68 in 2023, fertility reached historic lows not seen since the end of the baby boom. A value of 2.1 is assumed as the replacement birth rate.

The decline in birth rates while life expectancy is increasing is a toxic cocktail for a social system that is based on replacing old workers with young workers. In November 2021, INSEE (the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies) published population forecasts for France up to 2070, based on demographic trends. In this scenario, France’s population continues to rise to a peak of 69.3 million in 2044 and then declines to 68.1 million in 2070.

The French have strangely become sexually abstinent

French rulers have been concerned about birth rates since the 17th century. The failed efforts of Louis XIV’s government to intervene in family policies are reminiscent of the politicization of issues of marriage, celibacy, and fertility in ancient France. It’s hard to imagine Macron doing a better job of convincing his compatriots to multiply. Rather, this is French political theater in its purest form, as the revised government incentives announced by Macron to combat falling fertility are in reality disappointing.

The 46-year-old president is lucky that he has a tame media that doesn’t ridicule his childlessness while he exhorts his compatriots to fornicate for France. His wife Brigitte already had three children when she divorced to marry her former drama student, who was 24 years younger than her. He has two stepchildren who are older than him. There were no children in his marriage, and that cannot be the case. Brigitte is currently seventy-one years old. His openly gay Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is also unlikely to credibly support him on this issue.

The falling birth rate is vaguely attributed to social trends and financial pressures, but is certainly also due to the French becoming strangely sexually abstinent. The lockdown seems to have suppressed the reproductive instinct rather than stimulating it. I wrote about this in the magazine: Boomers’ sexual freedom has been followed by a new era of prudery, in which youth appear to have traded real sex for porn sites and naked selfies. Her lack of sexual activity seems to continue into her marriage.

In the last twelve months, 43 percent of French teenagers have not had sex. France has embraced sexting, porn and even naturism, coupled with a kind of sexlessness. “It’s a strange reality, not just in France, but strange for a country so known for its carnal fixations that is now gripped by pornification instead,” I remarked. Sociologists and journalists revel in this. Le Monde says: “Boys are full of fear, afraid of shame and humiliation, the pressures of masculinity.”

However, it’s not just boys and teenagers who seem to be afraid of sex. The new sexual policy and the two-year lockdown have “stopped the fingers at the moment of unhooking the bra,” as they say here. Before Covid hit, French people reported having sex six times a month, up from nine in 2007. According to pollsters, they not only had less sex, they also enjoyed it less. Without the contribution of the Muslim community, whose birth rate is slightly above replacement levels, France’s birth rate would undoubtedly be even lower – although no official figures are available because collecting such data is illegal.

Many French people seem threatened by the Muslim birthrate, but as Macron has pointed out, they are not doing much about it, and I doubt the president’s recent admonitions will make much of a difference. Maybe the president can provide aphrodisiacs.

This article was originally published on The audience‘s UK website.