4 ms·

With the high demands of work and school ramping up (just like in Japan ...) - who has time and energy for that? Especially with either the long commutes and/o

With the high demands of work and school ramping up (just like in Japan ...) - who has time and energy for that? Especially with either the long commutes and/or the multiple jobs necessarily to keep one from being homeless? (look up country-wide median incomes to find out how many people are affected, especially cross referenced even roughly against rentals/housing and other costs of living). Japan ref is just due to reading a lot of references to "why is the population shrinking?" discussions read over some years..

ethbr1 3y ago
If people found time to have sex in the middle ages, I daresay there's not currently a novel lack of time and overburden of work keeping modern people from having sex. And, indeed, as the post concludes its investigation: >> To summarize the main points: >> The sexlessness epidemic has likely been exaggerated as the GSS data appears to have began with an underestimate and ended with an overestimate judging by the subsequent survey results and more reliable survey data >> The trend which does exist doesn’t appear to be gendered but is affecting both genders equally, even if the implications aren’t the same for each gender >> About half of the sexless men may be voluntarily so
- orwin 3y ago
  The number of hours worked per year in the middle age are so much inferior to now, it's not even funny. I've talked to a blacksmith who sometimes use traditional forge and studied the medieval craft, he told us that it is not even a question , despite the tools improving, we work a lot more.
- xeromal 3y ago
  I've felt the same argument can work for many things. I've heard the same excuse about kids but I don't buy it. Humanity has had children in much more terrible times. For not having kids, my hunch is that we just don't want to anymore for convenience. For sex, I think it's our sedentary lifestyle.
- harimau777 3y ago
  My understanding is that people in the middle ages didn't work more than most people do now. In particular because there are stretches of the year (e.g. winter) when a farmer has significantly less work to do.
  - defrost 3y ago
    How good is your understanding of crofting | farming pre the modern age? Is your comment based on, for example, "no crops in winter therefore no work"? Where did middle ages farmers get cloth, rope, fabric, soaps, tool handles, thatch, etc. from? Sure, there were high quality wheels, barrels, buckets, etc from dedicated specialists but with high demand farms had to produce a number of their own workable versions. It's true that one doesn't have to work to excess in order to survive, it's also true that working to live well requires pretty steady work the year round, if not one job then there's always another.
    - harimau777 3y ago
      I was looking at things like this: https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_...
      - defrost 3y ago
        Oddly, both can be true: Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all. The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed. Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure. ( from your link ) Pre capitalist rural life was relaxed, relatively easy going, and steady constant work through the seasons. Not an eighty hour grind at machines doing the same repitative labour, but a paced life always pottering away at something, interspersed with occasional grinds of ploughing, seeding, harvest, birthing, etc (relatively short burst but long hours of activity) I can attest to this from my father (still alive, born 1935 to a farming for survival family), grandfather and various other old people I've spoken to growing up. It's a different type of life, not rushed but steady. To be fair, I'm Australian and we've had the eight hour day codified in law and set as the benchmark for a minimum wage (pay for (5 or 6) eight hour days must clothe, feed, and house a family) since Federation (birth of the seperate nation) under the Harvester Agreement.

ethbr1 3y ago

If people found time to have sex in the middle ages, I daresay there's not currently a novel lack of time and overburden of work keeping modern people from having sex. And, indeed, as the post concludes its investigation: >> To summarize the main points: >> The sexlessness epidemic has likely been exaggerated as the GSS data appears to have began with an underestimate and ended with an overestimate judging by the subsequent survey results and more reliable survey data >> The trend which does exist doesn’t appear to be gendered but is affecting both genders equally, even if the implications aren’t the same for each gender >> About half of the sexless men may be voluntarily so

orwin 3y ago
The number of hours worked per year in the middle age are so much inferior to now, it's not even funny. I've talked to a blacksmith who sometimes use traditional forge and studied the medieval craft, he told us that it is not even a question , despite the tools improving, we work a lot more.
xeromal 3y ago
I've felt the same argument can work for many things. I've heard the same excuse about kids but I don't buy it. Humanity has had children in much more terrible times. For not having kids, my hunch is that we just don't want to anymore for convenience. For sex, I think it's our sedentary lifestyle.
harimau777 3y ago
My understanding is that people in the middle ages didn't work more than most people do now. In particular because there are stretches of the year (e.g. winter) when a farmer has significantly less work to do.
- defrost 3y ago
  How good is your understanding of crofting | farming pre the modern age? Is your comment based on, for example, "no crops in winter therefore no work"? Where did middle ages farmers get cloth, rope, fabric, soaps, tool handles, thatch, etc. from? Sure, there were high quality wheels, barrels, buckets, etc from dedicated specialists but with high demand farms had to produce a number of their own workable versions. It's true that one doesn't have to work to excess in order to survive, it's also true that working to live well requires pretty steady work the year round, if not one job then there's always another.
  - harimau777 3y ago
    I was looking at things like this: https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_...
    - defrost 3y ago
      Oddly, both can be true: Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all. The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed. Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure. ( from your link ) Pre capitalist rural life was relaxed, relatively easy going, and steady constant work through the seasons. Not an eighty hour grind at machines doing the same repitative labour, but a paced life always pottering away at something, interspersed with occasional grinds of ploughing, seeding, harvest, birthing, etc (relatively short burst but long hours of activity) I can attest to this from my father (still alive, born 1935 to a farming for survival family), grandfather and various other old people I've spoken to growing up. It's a different type of life, not rushed but steady. To be fair, I'm Australian and we've had the eight hour day codified in law and set as the benchmark for a minimum wage (pay for (5 or 6) eight hour days must clothe, feed, and house a family) since Federation (birth of the seperate nation) under the Harvester Agreement.