Are we really so different in this, or is this difference far-fetched? Our experts, sexologists Alain Eril and Mireille Bonyerbal discuss another stereotype about sexuality.
Alain Eril, psychoanalyst, sexologist:
This is both true and false. That’s right, if we’re looking at the traditional western man, there’s a bit of a macho demeanor. The patriarchal society raised boys for whom the penis symbolized male strength and power. All attention was focused on him — to the detriment of the rest of the body. Often, when a partner caresses other parts of a man’s body, it annoys him.
But now we are seeing an evolution taking place with some of our contemporaries.
For example, there are couples who include massage of different parts of the body in their intimate ritual, thanks to which a man has the opportunity to look at his nature in a completely different way, without prejudice.
The walls of public toilets are usually decorated with a close-up of the penis, but the body of a woman is usually drawn in its entirety.
Unlike such men, who become, so to speak, more feminine, others, on the contrary, demonstrate a return to over-masculine attitudes, to machismo, reflecting their unconscious fear.
Mireille Bonierbal, psychiatrist, sexologist:
Looking at the pictures that adorn the doors of elevators and the walls of public toilets, you can see that instead of a man, there is usually only one close-up of the penis, but the body of a woman is usually drawn in its entirety! This is clearly no coincidence.
A woman loves to be caressed everywhere, because her whole body is able to be excited — perhaps because a woman realizes very early that her body is an instrument of seduction.