Sex-ed, OTOH, has been in sharp decline for over thirty years due to the religious far right.
8 Likes
Pretty sure there would also be a direct correlation between the increase in gaming and less sex.
1 Like
Gracchus, I have enjoyed all of your comments in this thread. Thanks.
2 Likes
Perhaps the most awkward part of the movie Hocus Pocus is just how insistent and judge-y the main character’s little sister is about him being a virgin. It’s really weird. And this is a Disney movie!
13 Likes
I would try virginity, but I would probably just end up blowing it.
4 Likes
6 Likes
Endocrine disruptors: they’re not just for five-legged frogs anymore!
Speaking for my 20-something son whom he and I were just having a conversation about this topic; it seems there are many yutes* who just don’t have then time or energy to seek out a serious relationship but also find the prospects of casual hookups distasteful.
My son would like nothing more than to meet a nice girl and to being having lots and lots of sex - he’s not at all asexual in any respect - but it’s exceedingly difficult for him to navigate the world that exists between superficial hookup apps like Tender that base everything solely on appearances and the time/energy investment needed to establish and nurture a healthy, normal and functional traditional relationship.
18 Likes
self reported data have a bias that depends on the social pressure. I think that boy are going more honest about this.
On top of this it could be a growth anyway of people with less sex, because having sex is correlated with social interactions, and social interaction are a prerequisite to find a partner. A person that lives alone and doesn’t already have a boy/girlfriend, whit this pandemic with places like disco, pubs, even museums or music venues, how can find a twin soul? Besides pandemic the rise of social networks made more difficult to interact to other people. People in a dinner fiddling with phones instead of making conversations.
1 Like
That is 100% true as nobody has had sex since the release of Donkey Kong.
16 Likes
… implying what though? There’s a correlation between the number of people with a diagnosis of Autism and the number of people with cellphones after all. Gaming is an all-ages mainstream hobby for a wide swath of people so it’s easy to see correlations with almost anything.
11 Likes
I know you don’t mean the effect of the exponentially increased access to porn. 
1 Like
Huh? Did you skip the first comment?
2 Likes
There’s a flip side to that. People now know that if they want to be sexually available, they’ll use a dating app. So in general, walking up to someone and trying to chat them up without finding them on a dating app first is seen as unwanted attention.
Something else that no one has mentioned yet, which I think shows just how much attitudes have changed, is that there’s effectively no stigma attached to meeting someone online. Thirty-forty years ago a couple would almost certainly lie about having met through dating ads etc. These days it’s entirely normal for people to meet online before they ever meet in person.
4 Likes
I’m male, not American, but I am in that crossover “oldest millennial/youngest gen x” group as I turn 40 next week. Sex hasn’t really figured much in my life and I’ve only ever had 1 (very bad) relationship, but unrequited love I found would really screw with my head to the point of amplifying manic depressive cycles.
It took me a long time to realise something that I had already come to the answer of in my early teens - that the source of feeling generally happier is to not have this sword of Damocles that is “you must have partners and friends all the time or you’re a failure in life” hanging overhead. Just live your life for you first, don’t be afraid to go out and do things just because you’re on your own.
If you’re gonna find someone, let it be on a more natural, incidental footing rather than the primary objective as that eliminates so much toxicity right away.
That way you meet interesting people who you either hit it off with or you form a good friendship with regardless of sexual interests - and it makes you as a person more interesting because you have all these experiences and ideas you can bring to the table.
I think this whole idea of there being someone out there for everyone is utter poison to our minds because it brings in the awkward question of “what if there isn’t?” and suddenly you’re attacking yourself because of the fear and self-loathing it introduces. Not healthy.
It seems more people in the generations below us are listening to themselves and their own arrived at knowledge without allowing prior generations to push their own hangups onto them, and that seems to be a generally positive thing.
10 Likes
No, and I even hearted it. However the 41 comments that followed all seemed to treat this study as though it was measuring the sexual activity of young men, instead of just what young men say about it. That distinction seemed worth making explicitly since it seemed to be lost.
3 Likes
Relationships are a huge time and energy commitment. There was a point where I just avoided anything like that because I just didn’t have it in me.
Au contraire! I’ve had all my sex since the release of pong 
Also, regarding some of the comments about the effort relationships take, I noticed a big difference in the culture around that when I went to Germany right after Highschool.
In my American Highschool, everything was essentially about serial monogamy: get a boy/girlfriend, date, do whatever physical stuff, etc., until you break up and go to the next.
In Germany, the other young people were way more open about just wanting to live and be young and maybe hook up with someone every now and then (they, charmingly, called these people “Discofreunde) but not ready to look for “the one” and settle down.
This was mid-90s, and I’m not sure if it’s still this way, but it seems a lot healthier mindset, as long as you’re safe.
10 Likes
