X-Rated Movies and Hard Porn Welcome In French Homes

Thanks to Internet, television and changing morals, hard porn movies are exiting erotic males-only cinemas to take root in French households, according to a pioneering survey on sex released Wednesday.

In its first general survey on pornography, the IFOP polling institute found that 89 percent of the 1,016 people interviewed had seen an adults-only film in its entirety or in part -- 97 percent men, 83 percent women.

The majority had viewed the porn at home, 57 percent alongside a partner.

"Access to X-rated movies through cable TV and the Internet has made the genre more commonplace and more accessible," Francois Kraus, who carried out the study on behalf of a porn movie company, told AFP.

"French people now are more open towards X-rated movies," he added.

But only around 30 percent of couples made love while viewing hard porn and 62 percent said they had never tried to copy scenes or positions seen on screen.

In fact 84 percent said that sex as seen on porn movies had little to do with sex in real life.

What they liked best, aficionados said, was to see physically attractive actors and actresses, and good plots.

Big-breasted women and well-endowed men were popular only with 25 percent and 19 percent, respectively.Contrary to expectations, the average age for a first-time viewing of a hard porn movie was 24 -- but the sample was based on people aged over 18.