Americans are having less sex, partly due to the decline of marriage.
As Christopher Ingram notes, “The share of men under 30 who aren’t having sex has nearly tripled in the past decade.” He describes a “big shift in American sex-having habits: the number not getting laid is at a record high. Conversely, the number reporting sex weekly or more is on the decline.” The decline of marriage plays an obvious role: “married people are way more likely to have sex. For instance only 11 percent of the married didn’t have sex last year, compared to 34 percent of the unmarried.”
Ingram also says that “young male labor force participation has fallen. Less work = less relationships = less sex.” Also, “men in that age group are more likely than women to live with their parents which presents … obvious barriers to having sex.”
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Millennials and Generation Z are having less sex than older generations did. Indeed, “18-30 year olds are nearly *twice* as likely to report past-year celibacy as 50-somethings.”
But even in marriage, people are having less sex. Some can’t even be bothered to share a honeymoon. The New York Times recently reported on a strange new phenomenon. Some couples are now skipping honeymoons altogether and instead opting for “unimoons” — solo trips to different destinations — after their weddings.
One couple told of how they couldn’t agree on a destination, so the husband went to France while his wife went to Canada, both to hang out with friends. “Neither of us wanted to be where the other was,” they said. “It was the perfect imperfect honeymoon.” A “dating expert” declared that separate honeymoons “may signal the continued evolution of marriage.” Only if “evolution” means “decline.”
