“When you’re living at home it’s probably harder to bring sexual partners into your bedroom.”
The rate of twentysomething men going longer than a year without sex has nearly tripled in the last decade, according to data released Friday by the General Social Survey.
While Americans are having less sex in general, researchers attribute much of that rise to an aging population. But one outlier in the data is millennial men, 28 percent of whom reported having no sex in the last year.
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Researchers say there could be many reasons for the dry spell in the bedroom afflicting young men today, including lack of stable employment and living with their parents well past the age when men from older generations would have already gotten a place of their own.
Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, told The Washington Post there is a “connection between labor force participation and stable relationships.”
Additionally, she said living with parents is likely a barrier to sex for millennial men.
“When you’re living at home it’s probably harder to bring sexual partners into your bedroom,” Twenge said.
According to the Pew Research Center, 35 percent of men aged 18 to 34 live at home with their parents. By comparison, 29 percent of women in that age group are still living at home.
Twenge says another factor affecting the lack of sexual activity among young people could be the rise of ubiquitous technology.
“There are a lot more things to do at 10 o’clock at night now than there were 20 years ago,” Twenge said. “Streaming video, social media, console games, everything else.”
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While the number of women in their 20’s reporting not getting laid has also risen in recent years, the increase isn’t nearly as dramatic as it is for these men. Since 2008, the number of women reporting they aren’t having sex has risen 8 percent, compared to 28 percent for men.
Another factor might have to do with how politics affects millennial dating habits. A recent survey showed that millennials are more concerned with a potential love interest’s politics than their skill in the boudoir. In a survey of more than 8 million users, the dating app company OkCupid found that the number of millennials who would sacrifice a good time in the bedroom for a partner who shares their political alignment has spiked since 2016.
Since 2004, the desire to date someone with the same political beliefs increased 165 percent. On the other hand, an interest in good sex has declined by 30 percent.
And there’s a gendered element to the spike in prioritizing politics over sex in the wake of Trump’s election. In 2016, 27 percent of women cared more about a mate’s politics than their sexual skill. That number shot to 42 percent in 2018. The jump was less pronounced for men – from 23 percent to 30 percent.
One millennial feminist interviewed by the New York Post said that she’d gladly pass on sex with an attractive man if he was conservative. “If I see somebody who’s like, ‘I’m moderate or conservative,’ I keep swiping,” Nadine Anglesey, a 33-year-old Bronx-based art director said. “Yesterday, this one guy [on the dating app Hinge] seemed really great ’til I saw he marked himself as conservative.”
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