The French are getting their handmade lingerie in a knot over a new film called Cliente, about a career lady who pays a male escort for sex. What does it all mean, asks the Times, especially since the French are "less conflicted" sexually than Americans? Is paying for sex What Women Want? Or do they want to Be Like Men? Do we want... a trend piece about what we want? The media has been trying to figure out for decades:

  • 20s: Just to vote—even though we'll eventually piss away our vote by forgetting to register to vote by absentee ballot.

  • 50s: Valium; to get out of the house

  • 60s: the Pill

  • 70s: Legal abortion; casual sex; Mr. Goodbar

  • 80s: Party's over—safe sex time! Also: to HAVE IT ALL. A husband and a nice power-suit for your powerful (but not so powerful that it's threatening) job. Plus a baby—you CAN have it all!

  • 90s: Having it all's a lot of work, as it turns out, and it's sometimes untenable with our career and/or marriage. Now we want Power and Choice: the Choice to opt out of work, and the Power to hire a nanny.

    More and more women choose to get pregnant without a partner, further proving that we can't always Have it All. We also want Louboutins, to Be Like Carrie Bradshaw, and an answer to the question, "Can women have sex like men?"

  • 00s: Re: leftover question from the 90s—Yes. Just get it over with and pay for it already, either with the male escort featured in Cliente or at one of those naughty massage places we've heard so much about. We're tired. Just like men.

    France. Sex. Problem? [NYT]