Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Sex in the city


This morning, they just released the 3rd study about French sexuality (the former two ones were carried out in 1970 and 1992). What changed the most is the sexual behaviour of French girls/women: they now have their first intercourse at 17,6 (17,2 for the boys) which is 3 years sooner than 50 years ago. Women also have more sex partners throughout their life than before (4,4 on average, compared to 3,3 in 1992) but still much less than men (11,6 partners). And for the first time they claim to have exactly the same number of monthly intercourse than men, that is 7,3 8,7. There are many more interesting data about this study if you can read French...

80 comments:

  1. Informative, as usual. Something else to ponder when I visit Paris.

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  2. First, did men sexuality not change at all in France in the past years?

    C'mon Eric, tell us all the juicy details of french men behaviour! I'm sure your female readers would like to know, am I right Lynn?!

    And second, wonder what you were doing in this neighborhood... did you try that relaxation thailandaise??!!!

    Oh Eric, sorry I just had to ask ! Actually there's soooo many things I could ask right now..!
    But I guess it would make you blush!

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  3. Sex in the City with François Bayrou reaching Zenith is a bit of a stretch... but I guess it makes the part ;-)

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  4. Disregarding the subject matter for a moment Eric, about which I shall refrain from commenting, I love the colours of the posters and the shadow men walking through. Another very interesting photo.

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  5. Do inflatable dolls count as sex partners?
    I can't read French, could you translate that good parts?

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  6. Do inflatable dolls count as sex partners?

    Est-ce que sexe avec les poupées gonflables compte aussi?

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  7. Do inflatable dolls count as sex partners?

    Est-ce que sexe avec les poupées gonflables compte aussi?

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  8. Aie, still having trouble commenting with my "new" Tomate account here... the anonymous above was me, sorry, and I have the hickups!

    I really, really like the picture you chose to illustrate that piece of interesting news, Eric. I think it would made a very good poster because of the colors and the shape of the people passing through in the middle; maybe you ought to send it to Almodovar who could probably use it for his next movie, it seems just perfect for that, but enough flattery here ;)

    One comment came to mind when you mentioned women having sex 3 years sooner than they did 50 years ago. I wonder what the actual ages would have been if the same data had been taken 50 years ago and they had compared, let's say the mid-50's to the turn of the century, or mid-60's to 1910's, or even the 70's and the 20's (now that one would be pretty interesting because "evidence" suggests people were having a pretty good time in the 20's...)

    I'm old enough to remember the sexual revolution of the 60's /70's and most people of my generation found a LOT of freedom indeed, don't let them tell you otherwise :-)(and I'll just leave it at that in case someone I know ever reads my comments, ahem... anyway)

    This bring another thought to mind... I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that young people eventually get to know that basic freedom too, one of these days. It must be incredibly difficult to be a teenager nowadays with the constant worry about AIDS. Poor kids, we gave them the world at their fingertips, virtually and digitally, but anytime they want to really touch someone, they have to worry about their life... doesn't seem fair.

    Oh, and about the fact that men and women are having as much sex... er.. never mind, maybe I better not touch that one after all ;) er... just use your imagination :-) Goodnight everybody.

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  9. I love your blog and the unusual fotos you put up; Been visiting regularly but never commented before :)

    Am visiting Paris in May, and as a first time tourist, likely to be visiting the major hotspots, but your blog has already shown me so much more !

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  10. An excellent photo. Did you take this up near Place Pigalle or elsewhere? The colors are wonderful, and the black silhouettes bring wonderful life to the scene.
    -Kim

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  11. Yes Monica you are right, i DO want to know! lol.

    This is a most interesting piece, Eric. The photo is just perfect for the subject and, as someone else said, the shadowy figures illustrate the seediness of the area i think.

    I should like to know similar stats for the UK, i suspect the first intercourse would be much younger, the average partner count higher too.

    7.3 times a month, is that what you mean there Eric, that people have sex on average? Gosh that seems to me to be a bit economical doesn't it? Of course i mean in a stable relationship, not casuals which i do not approve of, but seven times a month? Why so few? LOL.

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  12. Yes it's 7,3 times per month. I did not have the time to investigate too much yet - I will, though...

    I suppose this includes everyone - it's an average - so people who are in a relationship and people who are single.

    Monica, yes, I will provide you with more details... My pas 10 days have been very busy at work but now I have a little more time so I'll spend more time on PDP.

    I took this photo rue Saint Denis, near Les Halles (1st arrondissement) yesterday evening. This street was famous for its prostitutes in the 70's but now only a few sex shops remain. The sex industry is suffering a lot because of the Internet.

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  13. .. and perhaps because of the constant threat of SIDA.

    Well 7.3 a month Eric, my head is still reeling; i don't mind telling you i topped that just over the weekend! LOL !!! Again, i emphasise, casual relationships are not for me, never have been, but when you are happily with someone, well. What more can i say? LOL i've probably said far too much already!!

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  14. and by the way, it's great you will be on PDP - we love to see you commenting too! I have very little work at the moment, depressingly so, hence my prolific commenting, i'm praying it will improve. Getting ridiculous now!

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  15. Just a thing concerning the picture chosen by Eric!
    For those interested in the history and sociological study of sex-shops and their clients have a look on Baptiste Coulmont's blog (http://coulmont.com/livres/sex-shops)
    He's a parisian sociologist working on sexuality, religion... (his cv in English: http://coulmont.com/en) who has written a book about that.

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  16. I have difficulty believing results of any sexuality studies. Just talking to friends, you are aware they either exaggerate or underplay their sexual behaviour depending on their personalities. Aids has had an effect on promiscuity but from the increases in the disease it doesn't seem to make enough impact much like the cancer-smoking thing.
    The photo is a worthy piece of art. I especially like the Bayrou poster.

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  17. Eric you just made me even more curious! Oh, guess I'll have to be patient and just wait for those details...! Oh my, this subject really activates one's imagination!

    Anyway, it's great that you have a little more time now, see, sometimes you CAN slow down a bit!

    This last thing you wrote, that the sex industry is suffering because of the internet sure reveals a lot huh? I think it illustrates what Tomate said.

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  18. Lynn, I knew this would be a juicy subject for you!

    So, since you shared this information with all of us, you don't have too much work lately but a lot of things going on dans la chambre huh!

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  19. he he ... uh huh.... could say that. Great but it doesn't pay the bills. Eek!!

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  20. je comprends mieux l'explosion de Bayrou dans les sondages, il sait où mettre les affiches ;o).
    Belle photo d'ambiance et d'athmosphere

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  21. Ah, if only it could legally pay the bills, huh lynn?

    17's a good age, I think. Much better then what I imagine must be the average age of first times around here. Cause you know in the midwest here we've got nothing to do but go cow tipping and have sex! People are always shocked when they found out that I didn't have sex until I was 17, like it's some kind of weird freak thing. When I explain it was a choice because I didn't want to end up 16 and with a baby like my mother, even then they generally are just like "oh...ok" like it's still a weird thing!

    Only 4.4 partners throughout life? Wow. I think that's all I'll say about that. Wish I could read French, I'd love to see the rest of the results.

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  22. Soosha: I'll do my best on translation -


    After studies made in 1970 and in 1992 a third one has been carried out in 2006 on French sexuality, by l'Ined and l'Inserm.



    Findings are, in particular, an improvement in the prevention of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

    The number of partners in the course of life, changes in sexual practices, the increase of sexual activity amongst females over the age of 50; the study underlines a diversification of sexual experience physically and emotionally, notably amongst women.

    There's another bit, which i'll look at now....

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  23. oh dear the link to french life style doesn't work Eric, just reverts to the post. Sorry Soosh!

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  24. Actually, Soosh i too was going to scream "4.4 ????" LOL but was feeling uncharacteristically shy at the time... (sshhh not many though is it girlfriend, over your whole LIFE?) Not that my number even breaks into double figures - no i'm not telling - but i am really surprised, especially in today's world where marriage or even long term relationship seems a dying trend.

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  25. Religion, death, sex, wonder what tomorrow's photo will be?

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  26. Religion, death, sex: remember that "to die" was a metaphor for sex. And "religious ecstasy" always made me wonder... Probably all forms of the same, transcendent state of existence. Ob la di, ob la da, life goes on...

    I love this photo, Eric. The sex theater actually looks cheerful compared to the raggedy posters and the real people floating by as spooks. I, too, immediately thought of Blvd. de Clichy and Place Pigalle, but rue St. Denis makes sense. My concierge warned me about that street once. She smirked and shrugged.

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  27. 4.4 lifetime partners is the average? Wow. I'm in my 30s and never married.

    Nice to know I'm above average in something! :)

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  28. Yes, Jeff, indeed, to die in Shakespearian speak meant orgasm too. There's a lot of those cheeky word plays with Yeats' poetry too. Saucy devils weren't they. Pepys was about the worst but i don't recall how he referred to it do you Jeff? Apart from And So To Bed, that is.

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  29. No..oooo? (phew yes! wonder if i'm in trouble with Lord Eric)

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  30. In trouble with Eric? nah, I doubt it. He´s got that innocent friendly look but I think he can be a little devil when he wants to...!
    ;-)

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  31. True Monica... Don't judge a book by its cover as you say in English.

    And Lynn don't worry. How could you ever be in trouble on PDP ?!

    I have tried to translate all the tables of the study but I did not have the time to finish. I'll try to do so tonight - mind you it's 8:15 and I'm still in the office so I won't have much time tonight...

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  32. Ahhh i feel let off by the headmaster now! he he ... yay (no Monica let's just leave it there ;) )

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  33. Eric... what can I say? I´m more and more curious as the comments pass by...

    yeah Lynn, better leave it there..!

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  34. This is such a cool photo. Eric, I love how you timed it just right so that the deux hommes look like they're just about to go inside the club.

    I agree that the 4.4 stat is a little low, although my last little friend probably counted as the .4 (sorry I couldn't resist ;)

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  35. Pont girl: pretty funny. I'm sure many of us were thinking along similar lines.

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  36. LOL PONT GIRL!!! Best comment. I think we've all had a .4 at some stage lol. Made me laugh out loud.

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  37. Hahahahaha!!! .4! Good one!!! :-D

    Tomate Farcie

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  38. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..anyone care to guess what the "naughty" translation of PDP is? ;)

    Couldn't stay outta THIS topic now COULD I?!?!?

    =)))

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  39. Oh la vache! These data seem like seismic readings rather than...um, well, let me see now: one...two...three...and there was...ohh, yeah, mmmm....then there was...but who's counting?

    I just got back from a meeting where people in the next city were all upset about a long boat dock being built on a lake. Apparently, yes, folks, when you're taling about docks, size matters.

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  40. Mae, I was actually surprised not see you here earlier...

    So what is the naughty meaning of PDP???

    Anyway, it took me more than one hour but I succeeded. Here are the main results on a PowerPoint presentation. (Caution, some results might me offending...°

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  41. I meant to say Ame, and not Mae!! Of course.

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  42. Eric thanks for the powerpoint presentation. The things you will do for us...

    Nothing really surprised me in the research, except this:

    "Do you agree that, by nature men need more sex than women?"

    Is it cientifically proven that by nature (well, that's their favourite excuse, isn't it?!) men need more sex?

    The result surprised me cause it seems more women agree to that than men! I think you french guys managed to convince the girls about it right?!

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  43. I, too, find the 4.4 number unbelieveable. And honestly, I do not believe it.

    From what I've been told by a French man, that number is much higher...at least in Paris.

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  44. Well done Eric, quite a piece of work, thank you for doing that.
    Isn't it always curious that these men who are having more sex more than the women manage to find women to have it with? Are these women not at home knitting and becoming the abstaining statistics? My belief is that it is down to women feeling they cannot tell the truth in such a survey.

    Men need sex more that women? Poppycock (a very silly English word which means 'my arse' or 'rubbish').

    Adventurous sex, shall we say, well again the men seem to have all of this with women, yet the women have not had it. Where do they find these women then? Can they all be prostitutes? I wasn't great at maths but i'm struggling... lol.

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  45. Oh and in the interest of stats, I am sleeping alone tonight. Anyone else? (he he... no that isn't an invitation, it's an enquiry about tonight's Blogger Bedroom activity stats LOL),.

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  46. "The result surprised me cause it seems more women agree to that than men! I think you french guys managed to convince the girls about it right?!"

    I love the ideas that foreign women have about French guys!!

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  47. And from what I used to hear my Mom and Dad talk about from the war...I think those French guys like to "tickle" their women too!

    So maybe that men-more-than-women stat is true?

    ~How do I type a devil icon?~
    ;)

    Sorry I'm a little tardy here Eric...I was having an identity crisis...I could have SWORE I was Mae for a second there!

    MAE DAY! HEEEEEEEEEEEELP!

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  48. Lynn, it's like Johnny said, it's hard to believe everything they reveal in a survey. Someone is obviously not telling the truth. That's why I'm not surprised. People will say anything, and like you said, probably most women feel that they can't say the truth.

    Of course I don't personally know any french man or woman (besides my french female teacher, but I will NOT ask her this kind of question!),
    so Eric might give us a hint if this survey is close to the truth...

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  49. Oh Eric just read your comment!

    No, you have NO idea what we girls think about french guys... let's just say that for me a french accent works just fine, so image the rest.. oh I better stop!

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  50. Absolutely, Monica. The accent mmm... and Eric, possibly one of the reasons we think that is our first encounters with french men. I recall my Paris school trip aged 13 when four french boys tried to kiss me at the funfair (and seemed very adult at it i must say. Where were YOU on the night of April 6th 1972 Eric? LOL). In a coffee bar, two men wanted to 'meet me later after teacher gone to bed' (i was flattered but of course did not) and another chappie about 20 touched my bottom on the train AND KEPT IT THERE for some minutes! Well of course i tried to move, but found that... it was rather a good feeling. LOL !! Mmmm the French men.

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  51. Well, that 4.4 is an AVERAGE so maybe for you and me it's low, but for my grand mother, it isn't ... Either that, or the number must include FRACTIONS as Pont Girl so cleverly pointed out (still laughing at that one!)!

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  52. Eric,

    Thanks for the powerpoints! So, I did some number cruching.....

    According to one of the slides, roughly 68% of the people have had AT LEAST TWO sex partners in the LAST 12 MONTHS. So....if that many had at LEAST Two (could be four, six, etc...but at least two) in just one year...how is it possible that the average person has only 4.4 in a LIFETIME??? Hmmmmm....doesn't add up. I think some are not being so forthcoming...

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  53. Oh now lynn, if we want to go with accents, I'm all about the Scottish. It's beyond making me feel all fuzzy inside. I hear a Scottish accent and I just melt. *sigh* I'd like to up my stats with a Scot!

    Ahem...sorry...

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  54. LOL Soosha! I can understand that. Broad Scottish is quite difficult to understand though, so imagine the misunderstandings!

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  55. Louis la Vache will stay out of this discussion other than to say he has found it to be très amusant

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  56. Who needs to understand what a man is saying? It's generally the same: food, sleep, and sex in whatever order strikes their fancy at the time. They're like dogs, really!

    (**note to the males here:you know I'm only kidding!!! ;o)

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  57. note to the females: we know she's not, don't we.

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  58. Oh, but Soosha, I disagree (only slightly ;) : dogs love you unconditionally and they don't watch football on TV for hours on end while drinking beer.

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  59. Anonymous here said it all.

    I´m sure you all heard this sentence before: the more I know men, the more I love my dog !

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  60. > Susan
    "According to one of the slides, roughly 68% of the people have had AT LEAST TWO sex partners in the LAST 12 MONTHS."

    Where did you see this???

    Lynn I LOL when I read what you experienced with French men!! And FYI, in 1972 I was 12!!

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  61. Not you Eric, of course, you´re in our hearts!

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  62. Eric. Here's the shock of that story. So was i! We are the same age, dear Eric. I had my 13th birthday on that day. Hmm. lol. The four boys were of similar age, which was why i asked he he !

    Yes Monica we realise that, don't rub it in, huh? Eric and i feel badly enough already! lol xx

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  63. Oh hastily, i must add that i actually experienced NOTHING with French men at that age LOL. Goodness of course not. Oh no, that was MUCH later on. LOL !! It was the naughty French boys who were being cheeky, not I! The men though who suggested things, well, that was just plainly wrong.

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  64. oh Lynn, no, I would never rub it in!!! I´m sure when it comes to this juicy subjet, aging only makes it better.

    I firmly belive in what people say: man are like wine, the older the better!

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  65. For those of you actively dating, here is one to tell your new Date)

    Four flies are trapped in a jar. There are three female flies, and one male fly. They all want to escape, but don't know how.

    One of the female flies says to the male fly,"I want to escape. How do I do it?"
    To which the male fly responds, "Have sex with me and I'll tell you."
    The female fly is puzzled, but consents to the male fly's demands.
    After he has his way with her, she asks how to get out of the jar.
    "Fly up to the top, and smash your head against the lid," the male fly
    responds.

    So the female fly flies up to the top, smashes her head on the top, gets knocked out unconscious, and falls to the bottom of the jar, dead.

    A second female fly asks the male, "I want to escape. How do I do it?" The Male fly responds, "Have sex with me and I'll tell you."

    Again, the female fly has her doubts, but figures what has she got to lose, so she has sex with the male fly, he tells her to fly up to the top of the jar and smash
    her head against the lid, she does this, falls to the bottom, and dies.

    The third female fly asks the male how to escape, the male tells the female, "Have sex with me and I'll tell you," she does, he tells her what to do, she does it, and falls to the bottom and dies.

    Now, the male fly is the only alive one in the jar. He escapes.



    -Now here is where the person you are telling the joke to (be careful who you are saying this too, now ) asks:

    "How did he escape?" or says, "I don't get it?"

    to which you respond ...









    "Have sex with me and I'll tell you!"

    (happy Friday, everybody) :)

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  66. Oh I'm sure you know I'm with lynn and Monica there! I loves me some older men!

    Anonymous, that's too funny!

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  67. See Soosha, we women understand exactly what we mean with this french/scottish/accent/wine/older men talk!

    I think some men here didn´t get it..! well, it´s a girls thing ;-)

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  68. oooh have you noticed the amount of times the french have sex has risen magically to 8.7 ? They must be manically batting for their corner after our screams of surprise at the low amount. Do you reckon Eric's raised it all on his own? lol

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  69. Lynn, I was wondering the same thing. He did say he would investigate. You certainly gave him "food for thought" hence the photo for today!

    Religion, death, sex now food, what could possibly on his mind?

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  70. I think you are correct.

    Can only help the tourism industry.

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  71. So, either frnach men have go\iven up having extra-marital affairs and mistresses, OR their wives are now keeping up with them!

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  72. spelling, spelling! French men. given up.

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