According to a poll conducted in April 2009 by IFOP (PDF) for the French personal hygeine brand Tena, 88% of French women consider themselves to be "pudique", which translates as "chaste or prudish".

Over half (52%) of those surveyed said they didn't like their body. And public nudity? Only 48% said that topless women on the beach don't bother them.

Having said that, 95% of the same sample group of 1000 adult women of all ages have no problem being naked in front of their sexual partner, but 67% don't like getting undressed in changing rooms at the gym or spa, and 63% would rather not be seen naked by their friends.

Nudity on billboards bothers 37% of the women. When asked to define "naked", 44% said that the woman had to be totally without any clothes on to be considered nude, and 33% said that a woman wearing makeup, but no clothes, is not totally naked.

Full of paradoxes, 45% of the French women said they would feel better if there were less female nudity in public, but 49% of them consider nudity to be "natural" and 41% feel that naked women are beautiful.

Laetitia Casta is seen as the perfect embodiment of the (nude) feminine form by 45% of the women, while Kate Moss was preferred by 6% of them.

Surprisingly, the women who were most disturbed by public nudity were in the 18-24 age bracket, while those who were least disturbed were in the 50-64 age bracket (who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s).

My favorite stat: 36% of the women felt that in order to make feminine nudity (particularly in advertising) more "fair", that there should be more male nudity instead of less female nudity.

I've got ten books left over from the BookExpo America conference I attended in New York last weekend, and don't really want to haul them back to Paris with me, so I'm offering free shipping for the first ten orders before June 8 to anyone in the US or Canada.

That means for just $20 you get a Naughty Paris Guide (retails at $39), signed by the author. And even more fabulous, these ten copies have been stamped with the gold medal award sticker from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

They make great summer travel gifts!

Bisous from (naughty) New York,
Heather

Naughty Paris book signing at BookExpo America 2009.

If you're in Manhattan this Sunday don't miss the "Ladies Love Paris" booksigning party at the Flûte Gramercy Champagne Lounge, from 5-8pm. I will be signing copies of my Naughty Paris Guide, along with three other authors:

Jamie Cat Callan, French Women Don't Sleep Alone

Ellen Williams, Historic Restaurants of Paris, Impressionists’ Paris, and Picasso’s Paris

Jill Jonnes, Eiffel’s Tower: And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count

There will also be free drawings to win the following books:

Chic Shopping Paris by Rebecca Perry Magniant

The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz

Paris: Wish You Were Here! edited by Christopher Measom

The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication and Glamour by Joan DeJean

The event is free, with special $8 Kir Royals and live jazz beginning at 8pm. Come join us!

Flûte Gramercy
40 East 20th Street, New York City
Tel 212-529-7870
www.flutebar.com

The Naughty Paris Guide won the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2009 Gold Medal in the Travel Guidebook category, woo hoo! Since 1996 the "IPPY" Awards have recognized the best indie-published books of the year in 65 categories.

Heather will be accepting the award at a gala event during BookExpo America 2009 in New York (May 28-31).