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Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

reuters.com

451–460 of 740 posts

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#451
post #438

This is easily the most depressing thread I've ever encountered on HN. Women aren't sleeping with men because we know this is what you all really think of us. I'm not interested in someone with such levels of disdain for my entire gender.

This is unfortunately par for the course whenever sex and dating come up on HN.

I trick myself into thinking that it's only the 14 year olds on reddit who think this way, that they'll grow out of it.

I should know better.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I think many people are missing the point, which is that all these failures of intimacy are downstream from failures of community, of sociality in general (cf. "Bowling Alone"). Our culture has shifted further toward valuing the individual over the group, which means that many individuals no longer have recourse to a group in order to find partners, friends, etc. Men are not just "not having sex", they are lonel…

> Our culture has shifted further toward valuing the individual over the group Further from where? For better or worse, America has always been a deeply individualist country. Is it maybe the case that now the less savory consequences of that are more visible than ever before?

There's plenty of historical documentation from pretty much any point in American history that supports the following claim: many Americans once took their local communities much more seriously than they do now.

Even the "IQ Shredder" concept you linked in the other branch is evidence for this, that people uproot themselves and head into the cities, where they become lonely and fail to meet a partner and have children. Of course, this happened to some extent a while ago (like when HP Lovecraft moved to Brooklyn), but the combination (1) of lack of economic opportunity outside of cities, (2) high apartment turnover within cities, and (3) high rates of moving away for college all create a potent force pushing individuals away from stable communities and toward potential isolation.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#453
post #12

They buried the lede here. > Sexual activity was largely unchanged among unmarried women, along with no notable decline among gay men, researchers reported. Basically sex is following the pattern of wealth. Men as a group aren't having less sex, instead there's a winner take all effect where a small number of men are having a lot of sex with a lot of women while a large number of men are having little to no sex. It'l…

I've noticed this among the young men in my extended family and friends. One guy is model cute, and goes out on Tinder "dates" whenever he wants (new girl weekly, at least). He had a live-in girlfriend, but with an open relationship. And if I were one of these women, I'd probably do the same thing. Even if you can't marry a hottie, if you can have sex with one a few times, that still sounds like fun. The other guys,…

The advice to the normal guy in this scenario is to stop smoking pot and hit the gym. That will make up for a lot.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most men are going for the 18-25 year old group simply as a matter of preference. We aren't interested in women that are "waiting to lower their standards". So as a man, you figure out what that age group wants and then you try to get it.

> Most men are going for the 18-25 year old group simply as a matter of preference. Yes, that's why we don't want to sleep with them. We have a inexplicable dislike for men who are interested in our age first and everything else second. > We aren't interested in women that are "waiting to lower their standards" Good because they only exist in men's minds as a sad excuse. > So as a man, you figure out what that age gr…

> No one in any age group wants you.

Speak of a depressing thread and it shall appear.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instead, video games and pot. If their free time is about video games and pot, I would say they only have themselves to blame.

I generally agree with this but I think our society has somehow morphed into a place where you have to actively and mindfully avoid this lifestyle. Video games, binge watching, pornography, fast food, pot, alcohol, etc. The drugs of the modern world are pervasive and this lifestyle is not stigmatized whatsoever even though it is a recipe for depression.

> mindfully avoid this lifestyle

Whoa! I never thought of this, and it seems particularly more apt of an observation with the trend towards legalizing marijuana, and even further, decriminalizing other drugs like mushrooms and LSD.

On top of that, games have adopted more and more gambling-like and actual features, and have long been playing on peoples' addictive natures by design.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#456
post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see where we disagree. Both can be true.

Well your answer revolves around dating which is not casual sex. In that answer you address how men should treat women, but men aren't having sex because they simply aren't talking to women at all... it has nothing to do with how they treat them. This is an issue of self confidence: both the lack of it in men, and the steadily increasing amount of it in women.

I'm sorry, I'm still not getting the disagreement unless you are thinking that the discussion is meant to be only about casual sex or that sex doesn't happen between people who are dating. I checked the original article and it doesn't differentiate.

So, that's why I think it's more likely that we are actually in agreement. Yes, I agree, it seems like many of the people complaining here and also in the research aren't putting themselves in a position to get turned down at all. (Or if they are it's in some minimal way like putting a profile on Tinder and not being very active).

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#457
post #12

They buried the lede here. > Sexual activity was largely unchanged among unmarried women, along with no notable decline among gay men, researchers reported. Basically sex is following the pattern of wealth. Men as a group aren't having less sex, instead there's a winner take all effect where a small number of men are having a lot of sex with a lot of women while a large number of men are having little to no sex. It'l…

I just want to point out how so many of the responses to this thread (and the thread itself) are much more a lament of "others are doing X and I am not" - and jumping to conclusions as to why that might be. I also want to add that so much going on here is based on really thin anecdata about how other people are fucking on tinder and you aren't.

I don't see many people here talking about how they engaged in intentional self improvement.

You aren't owed a significant other, or sex. Nobody is. If you're not getting it, it's not because someone else was born hotter than you.

Stupid, ugly people fuck all the time.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> believe many of these men will eventually find someone once enough of the women who are now rejecting them face biological realities and are forced to settle if they want to have children. Who wants to be last choice? Maybe many of these men will wise up and marry a foreign girl(despite the usual shaming) or just hire sexual workers.

The assumption that a "foreign girl" is easier to get is both offensive and wrong. Given the ratio of men and women in Asian culture for example, it's a much crowder competition space. That's even more true considering the fact that a large percentage of those Asian women in the US are either highly educated, or from wealthy families that sent them study abroad. They look for partners who are equally educated/success…

to whom is it offensive? there is no sense of honor or duty when it comes to mating, LTRs or even hookups - it's largely a factor of mutual attraction and the extent to which both parties want to continue it (and perhaps have children). if that comes from your hometown or in a foreign country, why is that offensive? would you not move for a job out of some weird notion of loyalty?

we compete for mates in relatively tight geographic circles. that means that one's attractiveness can change purely based on location (arbitrage in the american english sense of the word).

handsome, blue eyed, blonde haired men are a dime a dozen in Berlin, NYC and Seattle. that can be massively arbitraged in Latin America and SE Asia (possibly elsewhere); you suddenly have exotic and attractive features. similarly for wealth: $100K is mediocre in NYC and fairly rich in above locales. etc.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a comment that dives into this a bit ~3 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22407388 If you don't want to read the whole thing (it's brief though, so consider it, and includes citations that I don't want to pollute this thread with), the high level TLDR is (based on the data) men are content to date down, women are not, and economically disadvantaged men (which there are more of due to globalizat…

men are content to date down, women are not This misses a fundamental point that has been made clear since the advent of Tinder and the like. The terrible experience and loneliness of men not in the top 20% on those apps is because the women on them are not content to date on their level , or even below several rungs above them. Let alone "date down". I've seen this happen with multiple friends of mine, decent (not n…

I think the problem (from my experience as a 30 year old man) is that young men absolutely struggle to find women that are in their age range. Young women often go after older men, with established careers and incomes. If young women do date their age group then they go after men that have better looks, money, popularity and so on. So the end result is the vast majority of young men are completely dateless.

I remember when I was a young man, I absolutely struggled to get a date even though I tried very hard. I was always rejected. Women didn't even want to talk to me! If I small chatted with them they would always find some reason to get out of the conversation.

When I did actually manage to get a date it was because the woman specifically went after me. I had a small relationship with her but it mostly fizzled out over time.

I spent most of my youth simply working and getting my degree. Now I am 30 years old, have a solid career and excellent financials. I have a spouse now and I don't bother with these young entitled women anymore.

I think all men should do the same. Work hard, get a good career and then find a woman who is also financially successful.

Re: Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

#460

There are two coaching perspectives that I think are useful for single men. We don't have many dating coaches in the coaching community I run, but I've been in long conversations with coaches outside that community whose job it is to help men date. One perspective is that it's almost always faster to focus on being more interested rather than more interesting. That means focusing on status and alpha male activities i…

I'm glad you brought up the friend-zone thing. I feel like I'm extremely good at all the things you listed before that, and I have a ton of female friends (which I love, don't get me wrong). I just have no idea to turn that into sex.

Realise there is often a fine line between friends and friends with benefits. My advise would be let them know you find them attractive like offering compliments. Occasionally make a move to get closer, massage, touching etc. Spend time with them. It is likely they will be in the mood sooner or later and you will be the most convenient option.

Basically let them know your interested and ask. If you don't ask you won't get anything. But keep it light and occasional. And remember people can change their mind - so its ok to ask more than once.

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