The Death of Eros by Mark Regnerus | Articles | First Things
Something strange is going on in America’s bedrooms... The trend is most pronounced among the young. Controlling for age and time period, people born in the 1930s had the most sex, whereas those born in the 1990s are reporting the least. Fifty years on from the advent of the sexual revolution, we are witnessing the demise of eros.
Source: The Death of Eros by Mark Regnerus | Articles | First Things
Interesting! Not everyone will agree with this, of course, but it's based on academic social science research (so it can't be simply dismissed as the ravings of those "deplorable" religious types...) and at the least, raises some issues that are worth pondering. Among them:
Despite all the talk of the “hookup culture,” the vast majority of sex happens within long-term, well-defined relationships. Yet Americans are having more trouble forming these relationships than ever before. Want to understand the decline of sex? Look to the decline in marriage...
A decline in commitment isn’t the only reason for the sexual recession. Today one in eight adult Americans is taking antidepressant medication, one of the common side effects of which is reduced libido. Social media use also seems to play a part. The ping of an incoming text message or new Facebook post delivers a bit of a dopamine hit—a smaller one than sex delivers, to be sure, but without all the difficulties of managing a relationship...
If these were the only causes, the solution would be straightforward: a little more commitment, a little less screen time, a few more dates over dinner, more time with a therapist, and voilà. But if we follow the data, we will find that the problem goes much deeper, down to one of the foundational tenets of enlightened opinion: the idea that men and women must be equal in every domain.
Social science cannot tell us if this is true, but it can tell us what happens if we act as though it is. Today, the results are in. Equality between the sexes is leading to the demise of sex.
Follow the link for more details. As I say, this idea won't be popular, or even acceptable, with many people. I would modify it to say that identicality, rather than "equality" per se, is the real issue: the idea that men and women are basically interchangeable, rather than being different but complementary, and excelling in different roles. But however you want to parse it, it's at least worth considering, rather than merely dismissing.