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Explaining Sex Rate Changes

overcomingbias.com

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Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#11
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not aware of any culture that encourages "widespread celibacy"–which ones are you talking about?

I had no concrete examples, I'm not even sure it happens; I was casting around to my fellow readers in case any of them knew of cultures where it does occur.

Any such culture would be long gone or full of hypocrisy.

There are cultures where sex ratio has been manipulated, e.g. India and China, to favor males, but this is not the point of the research and I lack relevant data for these.

Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#13

I honestly believe the rise of incelibacy will lead to increasing destabilization of the US. There's nothing worse for a country than a bunch of lonely angry men without jobs and without sex.

Incelibacy is not a word and do not make it one. It's called involuntary celibacy.

Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had no concrete examples, I'm not even sure it happens; I was casting around to my fellow readers in case any of them knew of cultures where it does occur.

Any such culture would be long gone or full of hypocrisy. There are cultures where sex ratio has been manipulated, e.g. India and China, to favor males, but this is not the point of the research and I lack relevant data for these.

Isn't extramarital celibacy sustainable, given that you can have sex and children once you are married?

Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#15
My theory is that it could be related to the economy getting worse. My belief is that women are generally more likely to have sex with someone that they consider to be viable long-term reproductive partners or marriage material. Fewer men have the financial success and stability that many women are looking for in a serious relationship that would make them comfortable with routine sex.

Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#16
post #7

Can we look to other cultures where widespread celibacy (especially extramarital) is already practiced for cues as to how this will affect the US?

I'm not aware of any culture that encourages "widespread celibacy"–which ones are you talking about?

The only historical culture(s) with widespread non-religious celibacy among substantial portions of the population are Western European but widespread celibacy certainly existed there. It’s also a thing in the Buddhist and Hindu world but that was mostly a life stage rather than life long celibacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_European_marriage_patt...

> The Western European marriage pattern is a family and demographic pattern that is marked by comparatively late marriage (in the middle twenties), especially for women, with a generally small age difference between the spouses, a significant proportion of women who remain unmarried, and the establishment of a neolocal household after the couple has married. In 1965, John Hajnal discovered that Europe is divided into two areas characterized by a different patterns of nuptiality. To the west of the line, marriage rates and thus fertility were comparatively low and a significant minority of women married late or remained single and most families were nuclear; to the east of the line and in the Mediterranean and particular regions of Northwestern Europe, early marriage and extended family homes were the norm and high fertility was countered by high mortality.

Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#17
post #15

My theory is that it could be related to the economy getting worse. My belief is that women are generally more likely to have sex with someone that they consider to be viable long-term reproductive partners or marriage material. Fewer men have the financial success and stability that many women are looking for in a serious relationship that would make them comfortable with routine sex.

I think your answer might describe the problem very well. Not what you say but it might be that men think like that?

Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#18
My napkin paper theory is that for nonmarital* sex the internet has made it easier for people to find partners, with the overall effect that the bottom ~1/3 of men cannot find partners. Generally women are more selective than men when it comes to casual sex, and desirable men are usually willing to have sex with multiple partners. I recall studies that found that the top 20% of men on dating platforms account for 80% of the matches. I suspect that the drop in rates of no sex later in life is because that is the age when people start to get married (late 20s, 30s). Unlike the casual sex market, marriage is generally 1:1 so 80:20 dynamic flattens out.

\* I'm using "nonmarital" here to refer to sex outside of a long-tern committed relationship. I originally referred to this as "casual sex" but I think that may be more loaded than what I'm looking for.

Edit: "extramarital" -> "nonmarital" as per respondent's suggestion

Re: Explaining Sex Rate Changes

#19
post #3

The most populous nation on the planet has a misbalance of men:women. That’s all it really takes.

This article seems to focus on the United States, where there really isn't an imbalance.

Except that 20s-30s men are competing directly against other, college aged men. And maybe that’s enough.

Edit-another pet theory is a changing climate. Cultures in drier climates tend to be more sexually conservative. A large portion of the US has been in drought conditions for decades

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