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French lefties love ‘backdoor sex’ – study

Rightwing voters have a "more stable" and "less intense" sex life than leftwing voters, with lefties more likely to have indulged in practices such as anal sex. That’s according to a recent poll on politics and sex in France. 

French lefties love 'backdoor sex' - study
Photo: Petrenko

A recent poll by Ifop shows that rightwing voters have less sex and are more faithful than their leftwing counterparts.  

Supporters of rightwing president and candidate Nicolas Sarkozy have sex 6.7 times a month, compared to 7.6 times a month for supporters of Socialist François Hollande. 

The poll also shows that leftwing voters are more experimental when it comes to sex. 81 percent of leftwing women say they have performed oral sex compared to only 69 percent of rightwing women. Similarly, leftwing voters are more likely to perform anal sex. 55 percent of leftwing interviewees say they have experienced with anal sex in the past compared to only 45 percent for rightwing supporters.  

Interestingly, it appears that voters who support anti-system parties are less satisfied with their sex life than more centrist voters. 35 percent of interviewees who support far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon say they are dissatisfied with their sex life, compared to only 22 percent for Hollande supporters. 31 percent of supporters of Marine Le Pen also say they don’t get enough action under the sheets.

Pollsters however warn that while patterns emerge regarding sex across the political spectrum, it also appears that the results correspond to different age groups. Supporters of Nicolas Sarkozy are older than the supporters of François Hollande – this might explain why their sex life is less intense and more stable. 

However the poll does make a clear link between sex and politics when it comes to partner swapping. It appears that far left voters are twice as likely as other voters to swap partners. 10 percent of far left voters swap partners compared to 5 percent for the rest of the population. 

Authors of the Ifop study conclude that the far left approach to property might explain this behaviour. “It’s as if their stance on property issues made them more likely to favour swapping partner,” Ifop noted. 

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POLITICS

French parliament backs bill against hair discrimination affecting black women

France's lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a bill forbidding workplace discrimination based on hair texture, which the draft law's backers say targets mostly black women wearing their hair naturally.

French parliament backs bill against hair discrimination affecting black women

Olivier Serva, an independent National Assembly deputy for the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe and the bill’s sponsor, said it would penalise any workplace discrimination based on “hair style, colour, length or texture”.

Similar laws exist in around 20 US states which have identified hair discrimination as an expression of racism.

In Britain, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines against hair discrimination in schools.

Serva, who is black, said women “of African descent” were often encouraged before job interviews to change their style of hair. Backers also say that men who wear their hair in styles like dreadlocks are also affected.

The bill was approved in the lower house National Assembly with 44 votes in favour and two against. It will now head to the upper Senate where the right has the majority and the vote’s outcome is much less certain.

‘Target of discrimination’

Serva, who also included discrimination suffered by blondes and redheads in his proposal, points to an American study stating that a quarter of black women polled said they had been ruled out for jobs because of how they wore their hair at the job interview.

Such statistics are hard to come by in France, which bans the compilation of personal data that mention a person’s race or ethnic background on the basis of the French Republic’s “universalist” principles.

The draft law does not, in fact, contain the term “racism”, noted Daphne Bedinade, a social anthropologist, saying the omission was problematic.

“To make this only about hair discrimination is to mask the problems of people whose hair makes them a target of discrimination, mostly black women,” she told Le Monde daily.

A black Air France air crew member in 2022 won a 10-year legal battle for the right to work with braided hair on flights after a decision by France’s highest appeals court.

While statistics are difficult to come by, high-profile people have faced online harassment because of their hairstyle.

In the political sphere they include former government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, and Audrey Pulvar, a deputy mayor of Paris, whose afro look has attracted much negative comment online.

The bill’s critics say it is unnecessary, as discrimination based on looks is already banned by law.

“There is no legal void here,” said Eric Rocheblave, a lawyer specialising in labour law.

Calling any future law “symbolic”, Rocheblave said it would not be of much practical help when it came to proving discrimination in court.

Kenza Bel Kenadil, an influencer and self-proclaimed “activist against hair discrimination”, said a law would still send an important message.

“It would tell everybody that the law protects you in every way and lets you style your hair any way you want,” she said.

The influencer, who has 256,000 followers on Instagram, said she herself had been “forced” to tie her hair in a bun when she was working as a receptionist.

Her employers were “very clear”, she said. “It was, either you go home and fix your hair or you don’t come here to work”.

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