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The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

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Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#41

Post by hiatus »

f-securus wrote: post #17
ancillary wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Americans: why isn't anyone having sex anymore?? Also Americans: Abstinence only! You'll get pregnant! No abortions! STDs will kill you! Men deserve sex! We're not going to teach you how your body works! None of that is new in America. If anything, I'd expect that these forces were stronger 20-30 years ago, when sexual activity rates were higher.

Roe V Wade reversal and the extent they rolled back women’s rights has certainly changed the atmosphere.

The reversal of Roe v Wade has changed people's sex drives?

Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#42

Post by lazide »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #35
f-securus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roe V Wade reversal and the extent they rolled back women’s rights has certainly changed the atmosphere.

True. The decline has been in effect for a while, but as for recent chages losing reproductive freedom can't be helping, nor AI and legal weed as two new ways for people to opiate themselves.

Eh, having lived in many other countries - lack of reproductive freedom definitely doesn’t cut back on sex. Same with public shaming, or other coercive control.

It’s not like there are 1.5 billion Indians because no one has sex there.

Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#43

Post by 0xffany »

fruitworks wrote: post #19
revx wrote: post #5

The article mostly blames pornography and digital addiction, but I think those are symptoms of a larger problem, which is lack of belonging and community. If life sucks, you have few friends you can afford the time or money to see, and you work to make other people rich until you are exhausted, when do you have time and energy to maintain a relationship? If you feel like the world is on fire, it's hard to get in the…

Is sex ed positively correlated with greater fertility and frequency of sex? I expect the opposite is true.

I expect fertility would drop, but frequency of sex would rise.

Knowing about your body and having access to contraceptives should in my opinion promote the frequency of sex.

Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#44

Post by watwut »

mewpmewp2 wrote: post #18
d4mi3n wrote: post #9

Is this really all that surprising? We have a ton of things ongoing now that we either know or suspect are big contributors to this: - the whole male loneliness epidemic - a longstanding loss of community and social organizations around the country - a pretty terrible job market for many Americans - plenty of things to be stressed or worried about. Geopolitical instability. Erosion of individual rights. The complete…

On the other hand historically there's been circumstances far worse than we are having now in terms of war, famine, diseases, living standards and it didn't stop people from reproducing at all. I really doubt it's that. I think it's something else.

Historically, people had less children during wars and famines. There were usually baby booms after. People always managed amount of kids to the extend technology allowed that.

Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#45

Post by alwa »

Counterpoint, courtesy of The New York Magazine deep in the throes of silly season: https://www.thecut.com/article/ghb-doxypep-sniffies-peak-gay...

To indulge my inner freshman-dorm-philosopher: It feels like every social dynamic is becoming "more of itself" as the engines of standardization and commodification churn. With the social technologies bringing the same phenomena to interpersonal relationships as the forces of capital did to our material relationships: everything is relatively abundant but cheap and interchangeable and disposable; friction is sanded away; stimuli are hyper-optimized for salience; everything's about closing the next sale, and a long-term relationship is an obstacle to that end...

How can the real world compete? Why build when you can rent? Why turn from the endless variety and bright colors and ocean of perfect bodies or whatever, toward something that's "special because it's ours," and frankly, much more boring than in the movies (or The New York Magazine)? Plus, the risk! The vulnerability!

Was it John Mayer who got a bit of hot water over his relationship with pornography [1]?

More than enough is too much, what is essential is invisible to the eye, it is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important, etc. :)

[1] https://www.playboy.com/read/playboy-interview-john-mayer/?s...

Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#47

Post by fruitworks »

hiatus wrote: post #36
ryoshu wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media and phones with cameras has made a lot of people risk adverse. When a video can hit Twitter or TikTok or Reddit about something that can ruin your life why risk it?

There are people running around poisoning produce and posting it online—I don't think camera shyness is an element of it.

Those people are psychopaths and the exception to the rule

Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#48

Post by Herodotus38 »

I didn’t see any mention in the article about the rise of obesity as a possible cause.

Aside from the social aspects which could be debated, older obese adult men are more likely to have medical conditions that would decrease their ability to have sex.

I think the other reasons they posted are valid but was expecting a comment on that.

Re: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping

#50

Post by margalabargala »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #35
f-securus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roe V Wade reversal and the extent they rolled back women’s rights has certainly changed the atmosphere.

True. The decline has been in effect for a while, but as for recent chages losing reproductive freedom can't be helping, nor AI and legal weed as two new ways for people to opiate themselves.

I don't think any meaningful segment of the population is using AI to "opiate" themselves. AI is a useful tool but I haven't heard of it having parasocial effects on any meaningful scale.

Happy to be shown otherwise if there's data?

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