Why are fewer young adults having casual sex? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#121

Post by MattGaiser » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

dukeofdoom wrote: post #109

I read about this before I think it was on OKCupid study. The spoils go to the top. In the sexual market place, the top 20% of best/successful looking men, get most of the women on the dating apps. Leaving the hand as the best companion for the rest. Hence why Onlyfans is a billion dollar business. Pareto distribution at play again. Also I read somewhere that only about 50% of men that have lived ever reproduced. And…

> 50% of men that have lived ever reproduced.

I found something similar:

https://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/is-there-any....

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#122

Post by clydethefrog » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

So it seems the stereotype of gamers and people that dislikes parties seems to be true. Nothing new.

The men having to coreside with their parents seems to be an economic problem of our time though.

Time to expand the 40 billion love hotel market to the US?

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

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#123

Post by mywittyname » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

throwaway8581 wrote: post #26

Many comments are ignoring the most important aspect. The decline is almost all among men not women: > Using a slightly different age range and time frame, Ueda et al. (2020) found that the percentage of sexually inactive men ages 18 to 24 increased from 18.9 percent in 2000–2002 to 30.9 percent in 2016–2018, and the percentage of sexually inactive young women increased from 15.1 percent to 19.1 percent over the same…

It's probably more than that. You don't have to be some 6ft tall hunk to land a woman. It definitely helps but it isn't required.

What is required is that you try and don't get discouraged. It's a lot easier to stay home, play video games, and watch porn than it is to date. Plus, successful dating reduces time for video games.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#124

Post by scoutt » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

orange_tee wrote: post #25

The idea that casual sex serves as some sort of formative process sounds ridiculous. In my mind, sex serves an important role in pair bonding, and casual sex would then inhibit the ability of people to pair bond.

What if pair bonding is part of the formative process?

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#125

Post by Dirlewanger » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

dukeofdoom wrote: post #109

I read about this before I think it was on OKCupid study. The spoils go to the top. In the sexual market place, the top 20% of best/successful looking men, get most of the women on the dating apps. Leaving the hand as the best companion for the rest. Hence why Onlyfans is a billion dollar business. Pareto distribution at play again. Also I read somewhere that only about 50% of men that have lived ever reproduced. And…

A decade ago, OKCupid used to be half-way decent application . You actually heard about people meeting/getting married on there. Now that all the big dating applications are owned by the same company, and they all copy Tinder, it's practically worthless.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#126

Post by liaukovv » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:47 PM UTC

DC1350 wrote: post #120

ceilingcorner wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was more or less the purpose of monogamy. If you observe many societies that don’t strongly enforce it, you see that wealthy men end up having tons of wives, while poor men have none. Same situation is happening in America, we just don’t call it polygamy because it has been reduced entirely to the physical act.

The unfortunate reality of sexual freedom is that most men would never be freely chosen for casual sex. The only reason they historically got laid was because of social and economic pressure against women. I don’t think it’s possible to have both gender equality and large scale monogamy.

Only if society takes it upon itself(upon undateable men really) to rear all offspring

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#127

Post by nickthemagicman » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:48 PM UTC

metalliqaz wrote: post #36

underseacables wrote: post #5

I think it is due to the misconception of an over abundance of choice. The apps trick us into believing that there is always someone better at the next swipe. So instead of having random hook ups, it could be that people are always waiting for the perfect, and thus having less casual sex.

I don't think this hypothesis holds water. Individuals motivated to copulate might initially perceive an abundance of choice, but it would be quickly self-correcting as hookups don't materialize. The falling alcohol consumption seems much more plausible in my opinion.

Why do people keep going back to junk food as good outcomes don't materialize?

Humans are not rational.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#128

Post by durnygbur » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:48 PM UTC

quacked wrote: post #100

cashewchoo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I'm deeply thankful for is that I was engaged coming out of college to the woman of my dreams, and that Tinder didn't really fully catch on until I was already seriously dating my now-wife. The modern dating market sounds like one of the most depressing aspects of modern adult society.

It is an absolute nightmare and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Modern "dating" is frightening, dehumanizing, demoralizing, ahistorical, amoral, and devoid of meaning.

How tall are you? [unmatches]

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#129

Post by MattGaiser » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:49 PM UTC

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #108

throwaway8581 wrote: post #26

Many comments are ignoring the most important aspect. The decline is almost all among men not women: > Using a slightly different age range and time frame, Ueda et al. (2020) found that the percentage of sexually inactive men ages 18 to 24 increased from 18.9 percent in 2000–2002 to 30.9 percent in 2016–2018, and the percentage of sexually inactive young women increased from 15.1 percent to 19.1 percent over the same…

I hear this explanation often, but it ignores the fact that only a small fraction of population uses Tinder. I don't know the real reason, but if I was to guess, the most obvious one is that there are so many interesting things to do, learn, engage in, that making considerable effort in order to have sex simply doesn't seem worth it, that's all.

So basically men quit sex because it is difficult to obtain for them and there are now other options but women continue to have sex because it is easy to obtain?

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#130

Post by twobitshifter » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

throwaway8581 wrote: post #26

Many comments are ignoring the most important aspect. The decline is almost all among men not women: > Using a slightly different age range and time frame, Ueda et al. (2020) found that the percentage of sexually inactive men ages 18 to 24 increased from 18.9 percent in 2000–2002 to 30.9 percent in 2016–2018, and the percentage of sexually inactive young women increased from 15.1 percent to 19.1 percent over the same…

There is an easier explanation- that the young women are having sex with men older than 24. With people getting married later in life the pool of unmarried men from 24-30 is much larger than in the past. My understanding is that younger women tend to prefer a slightly older guy and men tend to prefer a slightly younger woman. In the 18-24 age group, the 18-24 year old men are competing against themselves and older men.