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Are We in a Sexcession?

Are We in a Sexcession? Is Gen Z Having Less Sex?

Despite how we all feel about the economy lately, experts still believe that the U.S. is not technically in a recession. However, other non-economic experts believe that we are in the midst of a sex recession. I was dubious at first too… let’s take a look at some statistics.

Sexcession Stats

  • According to a 1991-2017 survey completed by the CDC and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior, the percentage of high-school-aged youth who’d had sexual intercourse has dropped by 14 percent, from 54 to 40. 

  • Jean Twenge, a psychology professor, has published research exploring the why behind young Americans’ decrease in sex. She notes that people recently in their early 20s (this article is from 2018) are two and a half times more likely to be abstinent than Gen Xers were at that age. 

  • Dr. Lehmiller writes in a Psychology Today article about a survey of 2,000 American adults aged 18 to 44 conducted in 2021 by the Kinsey Institute and Lovehoney found that, across genders, Gen Z adults reported a lower frequency of sex than people in their 30s and 40s. In that same study, Gen Z adults reported the highest levels of stress and anxiety, highlighting the link between mental health and sexual activity. 

The Why Behind Less Sex

Kate Julian, the author of The Atlantic article “Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex?” maps out her theories about what she has come to think about the sexcession, after numerous conversations with sex educators, young adults, researchers, psychologists, and sociologists. She talks about the combination of hookup culture, surging anxiety rates, widespread antidepressant use, the abundance of digital porn, and dating apps. She notes that any modern blight has and will be blamed for its impact on the modern libido. And this article was even published before the pandemic! There is no way to blame the sex recession on just one or two reasons, besides, what seems to matter more is whether or not young people wish they were having more sex, and aren’t, or if they’re doing other things that they find more fulfilling. 

However, in some places outside the U.S., this sex recession could be more detrimental. For instance, “fertility-challenged Japan,” as Julian says, is facing a demographic crisis and has become an example of the negative consequences caused by a decrease in sex. In 2005, one-third of Japanese singles aged 18 to 34 had never had sex. By 2015, this number had risen to 43%, and more people in this age group also reported that they did not plan on getting married. According to Roland Kelts, a Japanese American writer, and Tokyo resident, there is a generation of men who find the challenges and imperfections of real-life relationships with women less appealing than the allure of virtual sexual experiences. As a consequence, in 2022, there were 799,728 births recorded in the country, which is the lowest number ever recorded. This is just slightly over half the number of births that were recorded in 1982, which was 1.5 million. 

This fertility crisis is an important layer to analyze; however, I would argue that I don’t think the sex recession is a mystery that we need to peel back every layer of in order to make sense of it. Rather, talking about the sex recession can be a way for people to feel less alone because experiencing a sense of inadequacy for not meeting societal expectations around sex can feel isolating and stressful. Hopefully, research around the sex recession can be less about finding answers and solutions and more about helping people realize “it’s not just me.” 

Written by Sage Reynolds.