A Comparative Study of the Couple in the Social Organization of Sexuality in France and the United States - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2001 by John H. Gagnon, Alain Giami, Stuart Michaels, Patrick de Colomby

This article aims to understand how living in a couple (i.e., forming a joint domestic unit in terms of consumption and daily life) influences the organization of sexual life for individuals both in and out of couples. In addition, to the extent that marriage is no longer the only form of coupling, we investigate whether being married has a specific influence on sexual life as compared to cohabiting with a partner without being married. Finally, we attempt to describe how not living in a couple, that is, not sharing a common domicile, influences sexual life. Since the couple constitutes the most widespread social organization of the relations between adult sexual partners, we hypothesize that the model of the couple is likely to exercise a general influence on sexual life of all adults including those who do not live in a couple.

Our analysis is based on the recognition of a wider diversity of the types of relations in which contemporary individuals are engaged. In the first part of the paper, the frequency of living situations (i.e., being married, cohabiting without marriage, and living alone) are described for both countries. In the second part of the paper the influence of these different situations on the character of sexual partnering and sexual activity (frequency of sex and sexual practices) is analyzed. This influence is studied controlling for other social factors such as gender and age.

This work focuses on mixed-gender couples and heterosexual activity for several reasons. First, we are interested in the effect of diverse forms of coupling, including the distinction between marriage and cohabitation. However, there is no easy way to reproduce this distinction for same-gender couples, since at present there is no recognition of same-gender marriage in France or the U.S. (though this may be changing). In addition, while the rates of homosexual activity are low in both countries they differ somewhat in their social organization and might therefore obscure differences that exist associated with the primary explanatory variable of relationship status. Finally, in terms of sexual practices such as oral sex, we confined our attention to mixed-gender couples to avoid possible differences in meaning and significance these acts (fellatio and cunnilingus) might have within heterosexual and homosexual partnerships. Comparative analysis of same-gender coupling and sexual activity is currently under way and will be treated in a subsequent article.

METHOD

Our analysis is based on the 3,432 U.S. adults ages 18 to 59 surveyed in the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) of 1992 (cf. Laumann et al., 1994), and the 4,580 French adults between the ages of 18 and 59(1) from the Analyse des Comportements Sexuels en France (ACSF: Analysis of Sexual Behavior in France) also of 1992 (cf. Spira et al., 1994). While conducted independently and using somewhat different methodologies, both surveys are based on representative probability samples of the adult population of their respective countries and have many comparable questions on social and demographic variables, relationships, and sexual behaviors.