In 2022, the “clito” was (finally) at the heart of the libido

• As every year, the editorial staff of

  20 Minutes

  accompanies you during the December holidays.

  And like every one at this time, we look back on the past year and we plan for the one to come.

• Until December 31, find all the major events of 2022, from the most catastrophic to the coolest.

  In this thirteenth episode, focus on female pleasure which has taken its place in 2022. From social networks to erotic podcasts, the “clito” was finally at the center of the libido.

• Women and men need to know more about the springs of female pleasure, believes Cara Delevingne, actress and queer model who launched her documentary series

  Planet Sex

  , judging "completely crazy that we walked on the moon before mapping the clitoris".

Original sensual stories, playful or educational masturbation sessions, online courses, Insta accounts that give anatomy lessons or finally reveal what the “clito” really looks like, etc.

Erotic websites or podcasts have multiplied in 2022 and all of them are finally putting female pleasure at the center of the game. They appear as an alternative to traditional pornography and as tools that want to be more in line with women's desires.

“Porn always shows the same practices, the same patterns, centered on the pleasure of the man”, laments with Charlotte, 34 years old.

For a year, this Parisian sales manager has been using erotic audios “as an alternative means of stimulation”.

“The content comes out of clichés, is respectful and highlights the pleasure of all,” she approves.

The sound of desire

in France,

in the United Kingdom,

in the United States, etc.

Many actors have embarked on this niche, encouraged by the emergence in society of the subject of female sexuality, in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

“Sexuality is a subject that is still very monopolized by men, it is important that women are also heard,” says Constance Parpoil, European editorial manager of Storytel.

This Swedish audiobook platform has just launched

, a collection of ten erotic short stories, written by ten authors.

Consent, “the first criterion”

Tender or daring stories, sounds of couples having sex or masturbation sessions that respond to a problem (for example, "I can't come alone"): the

offers more than 300 audios, on subscription.

And on Instagram, many content producers promote it.

“We want to prove that porn can be ethical and feminist”, comments Sarah Herbain, France manager of this German start-up, which has attracted 60,000 users since its arrival in France this year.

“In stories, for example, consent is always expressed or described.

»

For Marie, 35, the presence of consent in the story “is really the first criterion” she refers to when choosing an erotic audio.

Another factor that encouraged her to turn to this product: "I can listen to it telling myself that no one was mistreated by making it", underlines this Alsatian.

The porn sector, tarnished by cases of sexual violence, was singled out in a recent Senate report, denouncing “the hell of the decor”.

To avoid being confronted with violent images, women often turn to erotic literature, notes Alexia Bacouël, sex therapist.

A genre marked by the global success of the

saga .

This specialist in female sexuality sees the arrival of Instagram accounts (WiCul, Orgasme et moi or the Fridaynuit.com website) or erotic audios with a positive eye: "they have a guilt-free side" because they allow "people women to tell themselves that they can listen to raw things".

In addition, "it's a way of seeking sensuality, of fantasizing and becoming an actress of one's sexuality", which is still far from being the case for all women, believes Alexia Bacouël.

Women “less socialized to sexuality”

Initiatives to defend free sexuality for women have multiplied again this year, but the subject has long remained in the shadows.

Thus, until very recently, women were "less socialized to sexuality", which has an impact on desire, describes Rébecca Lévy-Guillain, doctoral student in sociology at INED and Sciences Po. elsewhere one of the themes on the bill at the Sundance film festival which begins next month, the organizers revealed on Wednesday.

Renowned for having highlighted a large number of independent productions, the American festival will welcome Hollywood stars such as Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke and Emilia Jones.

The documentaries

and

will be presented there.

Both recount the harassment suffered by authors Judy Blume and Shere Hite for discussing women's sexuality in their respective works.

Attacks which pushed Shere Hite, whose bestselling book

(1976) on the female orgasm was a sexual revolution, to leave the United States in the 1990s.

.

From a masturbation seminar to a porn library, queer actress and model Cara Delevingne explores issues of sexuality and gender in this documentary series.

“We walked on the moon before mapping the clitoris”

Expected at the end of November on the American platform Hulu and on the BBC in the United Kingdom, this series in six episodes has already been sold in more than 90 countries.

We discover the 30-year-old British actress humorously multiplying encounters and experiences - like a blood test during an orgasm - around the world, following six different themes (female sexuality, gender, pornography, monogamy and beauty).

Women and men need to know better the springs of female pleasure, she believes, judging "completely crazy that we walked on the moon before mapping the clitoris".

And it is precisely about the clitoris that Camille Aumont Carnel speaks every day on her insta@jemenbatsleclito account to the huge community (700,000 followers).

The activist released her second book in mid-June: #Adoesexo*, a little sex education manual to put in all the hands of teenagers to answer a lot of questions to which, even today, many cannot find an answer. home, at school or with their friends.

“I want it to be a real reference manual, of those found in CDIs, confided to us in June 2020 Camille Aumont Carnel, who was then starting this new project.

Because at the level of National Education, not much happens, we only approach sexuality from the angle of reproduction.

»

“We are not ready for the generation that is coming”

A speech joined by Charline Vermont who spends more than 100 hours a week “educating on sexuality” her “community” of more than 500,000 subscribers and doing the job “that we would be entitled to expect from our institutions”.

After launching the Orgasme et moi Instagram account in 2019, the sexual health expert released an expanded version of her first sex education book this year (

(Ed. Albin Michel)).

“Until now the pleasure of women and people with vulva has completely taken second place to that of men.

Viagra even arrived on the market before the anatomy of the clitoris!

There are a lot of things playing out now and especially since the #Metoo movement.

We are finally freeing up to talk about systemic sexual violence and we are working to prevent it.

And we are not ready for the next generation.

For example, children's awareness of the difference between sex and gender is exceptional,” Charline Vermont recently confided to

.

"When we question women for surveys, very often they don't know what they like," observes Rébecca Lévy-Guillain.

But the youngest, who have easy access to resources on the subject, especially on the Internet and social networks, could therefore be less and less confronted with the problem.

Several companies producing erotic audios intended for women also note that the majority of their listeners are between 16 and 35 years old.

Faced with this observation, Voxxx, one of the French pioneers in the sector, decided to launch a series aimed at the over 50s.

"Some women of this generation have not fully experienced their sexuality, we wanted to help them find themselves", explains Lélé O, co-creator of Voxxx, which has 230,000 monthly listenings for its audios, accessible free of charge and by subscription.

This new series is available since last Tuesday, World Orgasm Day.

World

Retro 2022: Serena Williams, Elon Musk or Elizabeth II… The year in ten records

Planet

Retro 2022: Drought, forest fires, floods… “We saw in small what could happen to us in big”

* #Adoesexo, the reference sex education guide, Albin Michel, June 15, 19.90 euros.

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