Do 18-24 year olds have sex any more

[Kumquatqueen]

I'm much more worried about the kids not having as many friends or a social life. Given the option of communicating online, many not so much prefer that, as are scared to chat to people. I try to be a good role model, making small talk with strangers any time an offspring is with me, and I get asked "Why are you talking to them?" Explaining that talking to people was how we gained information before the internet was a terrifying idea. Basically thanks to visual information boards and being able to look up stuff and order things on screens or from home, kids are growing up with a tiny fraction of the experience of basic conversation, even discounting the attractiveness of gaming or phones over actual hanging out with others.

Add not being allowed to hang out in pubs any more, and various other third spaces not existing, they just aren't getting the social experiences and skills they need to even think about negotiating a relationship and/or sex.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I'm reminded of an article I read a few years ago that was essentially going, "Yay! Teen pregnancies are at an all time low." and now we've got this one going, "Oh no! Young adults aren't having enough sex."

 

[dirk2024]

If past generation had been as squeamish about consent as it is culturally sanctioned right now, humanity would've gone extinct long ago.

Either you misunderstand how consent is supposed to work, or that's an exceptionally gross thing to say

I say this as one who has been around since the 60's...the word consent wasn't part of the cultural lexicon when I was emerging as an adult in the 70's and 80's. Of course it was (mostly) desired, it just wasn't talked about as much as it is now.

For clarification, I say mostly because there are those toads who want to force the issue, and they should be punished appropriately.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I say this as one who has been around since the 60's...the word consent wasn't part of the cultural lexicon when I was emerging as an adult in the 70's and 80's. Of course it was (mostly) desired, it just wasn't talked about as much as it is now.

That may be so, but why would someone think it was better that way?

 

[dirk2024]

That may be so, but why would someone think it was better that way?

I agree with your point, it shouldn't be.

 

[MelissaBaby]

BTW, the youngest cohort of Millennials are 29 years old.

 

[Britva415]

New Yorker article I ran into today, (here) claiming that the current 18-24 year old cohort is having far less sex than earlier generations. Not sure how many youngsters like that are on here. Does this ring true to you?

They don't have their own places to live. Many, many more of them are living with their parents because of the excessive costs of renting compared to previous generations.

 

[PennyThompson]

I say this as one who has been around since the 60's...the word consent wasn't part of the cultural lexicon when I was emerging as an adult in the 70's and 80's. Of course it was (mostly) desired, it just wasn't talked about as much as it is now.

For clarification, I say mostly because there are those toads who want to force the issue, and they should be punished appropriately.

Well, you used to put leaded gasoline in your car too, sometimes things change for the better

But more seriously, that's why I was trying to give Lobster an out, he might just have absorbed some kind of incel version of anti-consent garbage from fox news or the daily mail or something, and is mad at an imaginary thing. I hope that's the case, because the alternative is gross

 

[FrancesScott]

BTW, the youngest cohort of Millennials are 29 years old.

29 - 44 or something. Though definitions vary.

 

[MelissaBaby]

29 - 44 or something. Though definitions vary.But certainly not 18-24.

But certainly not 18-24.

In fairness, a lot of younger people seem to think everyone over 30 is a Boomer.

 

[FrancesScott]

Well, you used to put leaded gasoline in your car too, sometimes things change for the better

But more seriously, that's why I was trying to give Lobster an out, he might just have absorbed some kind of incel version of anti-consent garbage from fox news or the daily mail or something, and is mad at an imaginary thing. I hope that's the case, because the alternative is gross

‘Consent’ has become a trigger word for a certain cohort of people. Like many of the other trigger words, the true meaning is less important than the endorphin flood released by reacting angrily when it is read and when the person vents about it. I’d argue this type of chemical addiction is doing a lot of damage to the country and the world.

It’s simple: consent = it’s not rape, no consent = it is rape. This is not some new-fangled thing us crazy kids have thought up in the last few years.

 

[1darknightowl]

I'm much more worried about the kids not having as many friends or a social life. Given the option of communicating online, many not so much prefer that, as are scared to chat to people. I try to be a good role model, making small talk with strangers any time an offspring is with me, and I get asked "Why are you talking to them?" Explaining that talking to people was how we gained information before the internet was a terrifying idea. Basically thanks to visual information boards and being able to look up stuff and order things on screens or from home, kids are growing up with a tiny fraction of the experience of basic conversation, even discounting the attractiveness of gaming or phones over actual hanging out with others.

Add not being allowed to hang out in pubs any more, and various other third spaces not existing, they just aren't getting the social experiences and skills they need to even think about negotiating a relationship and/or sex.

I agree with a lot of what @Kumquatqueen has said. Not only is the screen and online life detrimental in my opinion but it's the speed...I belive the iPhone arrived 2007. That's 20 years to go from zero to Phone Zombie. We now have children emerging into adults who have never used a phone in the way Graham Bell intended.

As things get more online and quicker we expect them to be even quicker still. Gone are the days where you sit on a train and relax for 4 hrs...now we must have wifi and phone and laptop chargers.

There are also factors like house prices and rental costs that are beyond most adults not alone adolescents therefore more staying at home much longer....on their screens.

So are adolescents having less sex? Probably, there is certainly a massive drop in birth rates vertically in the young women.

 

[Pabiporffor]

They don't have their own places to live. Many, many more of them are living with their parents because of the excessive costs of renting compared to previous generations.

When I was younger my parents would much rather I bring a guy home to the safety of my own bedroom than risk going to some guy's place.

 

[iwatchus]

So are adolescents having less set? Probably, there is certainly a massive drop in birth rates vertically in the young women.

Of course, a drop in the birth rate may be because of better access to birth control.

I know a lot of 18-24, but they are not likely to discuss their sex lives with a professor, even their cool professor, which I am often seen as. But I do hear many young people (< 35 or so) saying they do not want to bring children into this world. I did not see that kind of attitude fifteen years ago. It is mostly arisen in the last decade.

 

[RetroFan]

This is one of the main reasons I write most of my stories set in the past, even if its just the 2010s. Plus I find it more interesting not to mention more arousing. Today's world is a weird world indeed.

College would be a good example of this. There are so many stories an author could write set at a college or involving college students, all the way say from post World War II to the mid 2010s. But since then its a very different story, and not in a good way.

 

[1darknightowl]

Of course, a drop in the birth rate may be because of better access to birth control.

And probably better educated by their cool professor.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

That sounds a little pro-rape, bub.

I hope Lobster means that current young adults are so terrified of not getting appropriate consent (or being thought not to have) that they are avoiding the circumstances where they could get a partner to agree to sex.

Which may be part of the issue, but I think it's part of the wider problem of getting people socialising in general - the 'loneliness epidemic' is a huge thing but especially for young adults.

My generation had to contend with AIDS and fear of nuclear holocaust, but that mostly resulted in a vow to party til you die, just use a condom. The older Millennials were full of E and love and sex and then chlamidiya. The terrified kids are a new thing - Covid lockdowns in their teens sure didn't help, nor does modern social media. but I suspect modern health'n'safety culture and fear is just as much a cause.

 

[FrancesScott]

I hope Lobster means that current young adults are so terrified of not getting appropriate consent (or being thought not to have) that they are avoiding the circumstances where they could get a partner to agree to sex.

He doubled down that without non-consensual sex the human race would have died out by now. The first comment maybe have been a misunderstanding, the second not so much.

 

[Britva415]

When I was younger my parents would much rather I bring a guy home to the safety of my own bedroom than risk going to some guy's place.

I believe you, but you must have known people who didn't have that kind of opportunity - or who wouldn't do it under their parent's nose even if they thought they had their parent's enthusiatic blessing.

Do you actually not think this is a factor, and have anything to back that opinion up with, or are you just thrilled to throw your one single counter-example out there because it's about you?

 

[Britva415]

I hope Lobster means that current young adults are so terrified of not getting appropriate consent (or being thought not to have) that they are avoiding the circumstances where they could get a partner to agree to sex.

I hope so too, but the way they doubled down on pretending to believe in an apocalyptic consequence as the result of some kind of unfair political correctness instead of clarifying their honorable intent makes me not really care. Clearly culture conflict is more important to them than getting consent right.

 

[1darknightowl]

This is one of the main reasons I write most of my stories set in the past, even if its just the 2010s. Plus I find it more interesting not to mention more arousing. Today's world is a weird world indeed.

College would be a good example of this. There are so many stories an author could write set at a college or involving college students, all the way say from post World War II to the mid 2010s. But since then its a very different story, and not in a good way.

I don't know much about college life. I was only there as I needed to kill a year.

From an apprentice point of view, there are many occasions that Lit stories could be based on. I got my 1st during one if these. Not so much now.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

It's all these stories of ours that provide easy gratification.

Shame on you all!

 

[PennyThompson]

It's all these stories of ours that provide easy gratification.

Shame on you all!

Time to start writing stories that end with, "Want to know what happens next? Go meet somebody cute and respectfully ask them out on a date!"

 

[Nynah]

Not sure how many youngsters like that are on here. Does this ring true to you?

Being that we haven't had any 18-to-24 year olds reply to this thread yet, the only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that they are all too busy fornicating with each other (consensually, of course) to answer the question.

 

[FrancesScott]

Clearly culture conflict is more important to them than getting consent right.

And there is designated place for that shit here, right?