One in five young women does not consider heterosexual, according to A study by the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) Published Wednesday, April 30, whose authors evoke a possible effect of the Metoo movement and a greater acceptance of sexual minorities in France.
“Between 2015 and 2023, the number of young adults aged 20-29 identifying themselves as bisexual or borrowing [attirance pour une personne quel que soit son genre] was multiplied by six “underlines the INED in a press release.
According to the study entitled Homo, bi and non-binary: when young people question heterosexuality5 % of young women “Identified” in 2023 as “Pansexuals”one in ten as “Bisexual”2 % as lesbians and 81 % as “Heterosexual”. In young men, 3 % said they were homosexual and the same bisexual proportion.
The study published in the journal Population and Societies Analysis of the results of the “survey on the emotional life of young adults” (envy) carried out in 2023 by INED on a sample of 10,000 young people aged 18 to 29. If 19 % of women in this age group do not identify themselves as heterosexual, 8 % of men are in this case.
Forms of “more possible” sexuality
This was the case of 3 % of women aged 20-29 and 2 % of men of the same age in the 2015 “Virage” survey, Wildried Rault, research director at INED, at a press conference. Among the factors that can explain this trend, he cites a “Relative trivialization of homosexuality” and the metoo movement, which made heterosexuality “Less desirable” For part of the young people. The debate around inequalities in domestic work also contributes to this evolution, according to him.
There “Increasing visibility” sexual minorities, especially with marriage for all in 2013, has “Made more possible these forms of sexuality, especially for young people who have always known these contexts”advanced Mr. Rault. In 2023, 37 % of women aged 20-29 said they had had “Attraints” For both sexes in their lifetime, against 7 % in the 2015 “Virage” (Ined) survey. This is the case of 18 % of men in 2023, against 2 % in 2015.
“It is especially the 18-21-year-old women who recognize themselves in these new identifications” : 78 % of 18-21 year olds identify as heterosexual, compared to 87 % of 26-29 year olds.
In addition, 1.7 % of young people define as “Non -binary”. This increase in the number of BI and Pansexual people is also visible in other European countries as well as in North America, according to the study.