3 ms·

This study seems relevant https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023121996854 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023121996854 > Fewer young adu

by theNJR 6y ago

This study seems relevant https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023121996854 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023121996854 > Fewer young adults are engaging in casual sexual intercourse now than in the past, but the reasons for this decline are unknown. And this recently discussed article https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/opinion/sunday/endocrine-disruptors-sperm.html?referringSource=articleShare https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/opinion/sunday/endocrine-... > Scientists are concerned by falling sperm counts and declining egg quality. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be the problem.

Frost1x 6y ago
While endocrine disruption or inhibitors are very likely a factor to blame, I think we also have cultural and socioeconomic factors compounding the problem. There are so many who just don't want to deal with the current dating and casual sex culture. The rewards for time investment and effort just aren't that high compared to alternatives available to many, compounded by other factors of daily life competing for that time. In heterosexual groups, it's challenging for many men (from my experience) who are interested in casual sex but the effort is simply too high for them to pursue so they largely just check-out (I know quite a few heterosexual males who just feel like it isn't worth their time anymore). In other groups like the LGBTQ+ arena, specifically gay men, it's not nearly as difficult to find the sexual reward many seek and as a result, you'll find casual sex seems quite high. I have quite a few friends here as well and they continue to seek and find causal sexual encounters, dates, etc. or at least they say. I'd be very interested to see if any empirical data exists that shows casual sex rates over time, normalized, and broken into heterosexual and non-heterosexual groups. If there's a similar decline in both groups then I suspect endocrine disruption may be the real problem. If there's less correlation, I'd tend to think much is culturally driven.
- captainredbeard 6y ago
  > who are interested in casual sex but the effort is simply too high for them to pursue They are outcompeted due to a lack of initiative and willpower; that's evolution doing its job.
  - MichaelDickens 6y ago
    Evolution is not prescriptive. Just because a certain outcome is favored by evolution doesn't mean that outcome is good.
    - xeromal 6y ago
      I don't think the poster said it was good, just that it was working as expected. The people with less willpower get filtered out
  - mdorazio 6y ago
    This comment is needlessly flippant. The move to online dating (and social media profiles in general) has radically shifted how dating works. A quick look at any research from OK Cupid or others who investigate perceptions, ratings, etc. very clearly shows that it’s become a meat market where a small number of men get a disproportionate amount of the available dates. Before online dating, expectations were generally more in line with reality and dating was far less of a chore.
    - captainredbeard 6y ago
      Hit a nerve I guess
- com2kid 6y ago
  Our entire society has been flooded with low effort high (short term) reward entertainment activities. Psychology has been weaponized to optimize addictive behavior loops. Instead of going outside and talking to people being the norm, now people have to make a concerted effort to pull themselves away from their psychologically addictive pocket sized happy fun device, convince others to do the same, and then arrange a time to go out. Socializing is messy, painful, and difficult. But for the majority of human civilization, there weren't very many alternatives for entertainment!
tomjen3 6y ago
>Poverty no doubt discourages marriage, but doesn’t always prevent it. And it seems to be positively favourable to generation. A half-starved Highland woman may bear more than 20 children, while many a pampered fine lady is incapable of bearing any and is generally exhausted by two or three. Barrenness, so frequent among women of fashion, is very rare among those of lower station. >Luxury may inflame in the fair sex the passion for enjoyment, but it seems always to weaken—and often to destroy—the powers of generation Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations Given that he wrote that when North America was a rebellious colony where no chemicals were in common use and that we essentially all much, much, much richer than the rich people he talks about here it seems more likely to be something fundamentally human.
fullshark 6y ago
Table 2 has several hypothetical factors that seem more likely culprits
rednerrus 6y ago
Didn't a study just come out showing that casual sex is declining because kids have other things (mostly video games) to do?

by theNJR 6y ago

Frost1x 6y ago

While endocrine disruption or inhibitors are very likely a factor to blame, I think we also have cultural and socioeconomic factors compounding the problem. There are so many who just don't want to deal with the current dating and casual sex culture. The rewards for time investment and effort just aren't that high compared to alternatives available to many, compounded by other factors of daily life competing for that time. In heterosexual groups, it's challenging for many men (from my experience) who are interested in casual sex but the effort is simply too high for them to pursue so they largely just check-out (I know quite a few heterosexual males who just feel like it isn't worth their time anymore). In other groups like the LGBTQ+ arena, specifically gay men, it's not nearly as difficult to find the sexual reward many seek and as a result, you'll find casual sex seems quite high. I have quite a few friends here as well and they continue to seek and find causal sexual encounters, dates, etc. or at least they say. I'd be very interested to see if any empirical data exists that shows casual sex rates over time, normalized, and broken into heterosexual and non-heterosexual groups. If there's a similar decline in both groups then I suspect endocrine disruption may be the real problem. If there's less correlation, I'd tend to think much is culturally driven.

captainredbeard 6y ago
> who are interested in casual sex but the effort is simply too high for them to pursue They are outcompeted due to a lack of initiative and willpower; that's evolution doing its job.
- MichaelDickens 6y ago
  Evolution is not prescriptive. Just because a certain outcome is favored by evolution doesn't mean that outcome is good.
  - xeromal 6y ago
    I don't think the poster said it was good, just that it was working as expected. The people with less willpower get filtered out
- mdorazio 6y ago
  This comment is needlessly flippant. The move to online dating (and social media profiles in general) has radically shifted how dating works. A quick look at any research from OK Cupid or others who investigate perceptions, ratings, etc. very clearly shows that it’s become a meat market where a small number of men get a disproportionate amount of the available dates. Before online dating, expectations were generally more in line with reality and dating was far less of a chore.
  - captainredbeard 6y ago
    Hit a nerve I guess
com2kid 6y ago
Our entire society has been flooded with low effort high (short term) reward entertainment activities. Psychology has been weaponized to optimize addictive behavior loops. Instead of going outside and talking to people being the norm, now people have to make a concerted effort to pull themselves away from their psychologically addictive pocket sized happy fun device, convince others to do the same, and then arrange a time to go out. Socializing is messy, painful, and difficult. But for the majority of human civilization, there weren't very many alternatives for entertainment!

tomjen3 6y ago

>Poverty no doubt discourages marriage, but doesn’t always prevent it. And it seems to be positively favourable to generation. A half-starved Highland woman may bear more than 20 children, while many a pampered fine lady is incapable of bearing any and is generally exhausted by two or three. Barrenness, so frequent among women of fashion, is very rare among those of lower station. >Luxury may inflame in the fair sex the passion for enjoyment, but it seems always to weaken—and often to destroy—the powers of generation Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations Given that he wrote that when North America was a rebellious colony where no chemicals were in common use and that we essentially all much, much, much richer than the rich people he talks about here it seems more likely to be something fundamentally human.

fullshark 6y ago

Table 2 has several hypothetical factors that seem more likely culprits

rednerrus 6y ago

Didn't a study just come out showing that casual sex is declining because kids have other things (mostly video games) to do?