Born in '89. I suspect the reason millennials are less sexually active is less related to a disinterest in sex (or whatever the ridiculous claim about consent fears mentioned elsewhere in these comments) and more because of the same major issue that plagues most of my generation: money, or the lack thereof. This is also the primary reason that we're buying less cars, and going on fewer vacations, or whatever indicato…
Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
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Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#32I can throw my own theories into the stew: A. Many Americans are overweight or obese. Overweight people are conventionally less attractive and thus less prone to having sex or being in a relationship. B. Social media permeates all aspects of people's lives. Some people might opt out of having sex or relationships if they didn't want to risk the chance of it showing up on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and getting scolded by…
* Insane portion sizes when I eat out.
* If there is a smaller size it feels not worth it (it's not that much smaller, but the cost is still dis-proportionately high, adding a psychological barrier to ordering less)
* I hate leftovers, but I was also given that 'starving children in Africa' speech as a kid... I hate leaving food behind.
* I have a 'desk job' and thus don't get enough exercise.
* American culture is predominantly a car culture, our cities, suburbs, and rural areas are built to that standard.
* I wasn't, really, at all trained in making HEALTHY food as a kid.
* Making healthy food takes some time, or at least a good bit of planning.
* Making food for one means I can't keep the best healthy ingredients around. (Fruits, vegetables, to a degree bread) Even the smaller store sizes are at high risk of going bad before I get them, and they have a cost high enough to make me lust for prepared foods.
* Most of the prepared foods are made to sell on taste, and thus have a lot of what isn't 'healthy' for us.
* We've also, apparently, been on a war against fats, when their common substitute sugar is actually a more insidious enemy.
Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#33Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#34In the surveys I've seen before, the average number of reported female sexual partners per man did not equal the average number of reported male sexual partners per woman. Men overreport their number of sexual partners; women underreport. This effect could skew the aggregate reported results among the entire population one way or another, depending on other factors.
If the underlying trend is one of increasing inequality in male sexual activity -- fewer men having sex with more women, while women have the same number of sexual encounters overall -- then because fewer men have had sex, the proportion of all people who have never had sex would increase compared to previous generations, even if the average amount of sex across the board actually remained the same as in previous generations.
Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#35What about the fact that so many people are overweight now? I have a lot of friends who are overweight, and have horrible dating lives. Most of the people I know at a healthy weight have plenty of sex.
That explanation would still leave open why overweight wouldn't date other overweight people?
Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#36There is a perfect storm of anti-sexuality forming in our sex-saturated society: 1) Universal, unlimited internet pornography 2) Consent is increasingly problematic 3) Parental guidance has gone from bad to non-existent, replaced by the State, which delivers clinical advice, often via perverts 4) Tinder and friends aggravating the many-females/one-male harem phenomenon, shutting many males out of the sexual market 5)…
Moreover the societal group ties have disappeared. You can see it as many fewer subcultures and subgroups. Quite a few are virtual (Internet based, not local) and that does not lens itself to relationships. Results in loneliness in crowd, since everyone is a stranger.
Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#37Born in 1981, a bit early to be called a millenial but not that far. I remember an old hippie referring to us as "the AIDS generation". So afraid of STDs that we refrain from having all the sex we can. It somehow applies.
If anything, you could call millennial an Internet user, but that is not a subculture. Other than this there seems to be no unifying force. Even in Great Depression there was one pretty well defined by Jazz and first available movies in cinemas.
Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#38I can throw my own theories into the stew: A. Many Americans are overweight or obese. Overweight people are conventionally less attractive and thus less prone to having sex or being in a relationship. B. Social media permeates all aspects of people's lives. Some people might opt out of having sex or relationships if they didn't want to risk the chance of it showing up on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and getting scolded by…
To C: Probably people know more about sex than they used to, not less. Anyway sexual eduction leads to the first sex you have being later in life.
Porn certainly is more accessible and widespread than it has been.
Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#39I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the political climate yet. Millennials aren't having sex for a very simple reason: the risk is too high. We live in an age where consent can be retroactively withdrawn. If you choose to have a one night stand and you choose your partner poorly, you run a serious risk of becoming a registered sex offender. That's a life sentence. You'll never have a normal job or a normal life after…
I really doubt that there are any persons where this is the main reason they don't have sex. You usually have sex with people that you built up at least a bit of mutual trust and most of the time are in a relationship with.
Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years
#40What about the fact that so many people are overweight now? I have a lot of friends who are overweight, and have horrible dating lives. Most of the people I know at a healthy weight have plenty of sex.
That explanation would still leave open why overweight wouldn't date other overweight people?