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Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years

latimes.com

31–40 of 55 posts

Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years

#31

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…

You're describing the reality that any observant Millenial lives in. Unfortunately, the spurious trend pieces will continue until Boomers finally grasp that the economy no longer offers the "average" person the same opportunities it did when they were growing up (and will likely never do so again).

Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years

#32

I 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…

For point A, some contributing factors that I experience include...

* 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

#33
Women are waste of time and money. You can get children from a surrogate mother in Ukraine for 14000$ or something. And by the way, according to new law in Germany, it may be considered as a rape if you just slightly touch female's legs... even dogs have more rights than males in this country and this is why I will move out soon.

Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years

#34
As I followed the links in the article, and the links those links linked to, I noticed that none of them report the gender breakdown among those who have never had sex.

In 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

#35
post #26
post #24

What 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?

Obviously it doesn't go for every overweight person, but I would imagine not taking care of yourself enough to sustain a healthy body weight also comes with a slew of other problems such as depression, low self esteem, social anxiety, that would hinder a healthy sex life.

Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years

#36

There 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)…

And there is also the runaway quality selection. It seems that for a long time there was a trend of fewer children per pair, this is the logical cause and conclusion.

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

#37
post #13

Born 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.

There seems to be no unifying subculture anymore. See, you can call a person a hippie and be mostly right.

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

#38

I 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…

Addition to A: Obesity also reduces libido

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

#39
post #19

I'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…

That's a rare thing to happen. Rape cases are brought relatively rarely to police. Then only 2–8% of those rape allegations are false [1]. Around 50% of them aren't against persons (so allegations are like "some stranger raped me"). Next you don't need to have sex with someone so that they can accuse you.

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.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation_of_rape

Re: Millennials are having less sex than any generation in 60 years

#40
post #26
post #24

What 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?

Being overweight yourself doesn't change your perception of other overweight people.
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