Millennials may have a reputation as the most sex-positive, free-spirited generation the world has seen—with their #freethenipple, "Snapchat me that [insert body part here]" and general porn saturation—but a new study has found that those born in the 1980s and '90s are not putting out as much as their parents. Or their grandparents.
In fact, the study, published in The Archives of Sexual Behavior journal last Tuesday, shows that Americans born in the 1980s and 1990s were more than twice as likely to report having no sexual partners when compared to Gen Xers who were born during the 1960s and '70s. From the study:
"Among those aged 20-24, more than twice as many Millennials born in the 1990s (15 percent) had no sexual partners since age 18 compared with GenX'ers born in the 1960s (6 percent)."
The media unleashed a volcanic eruption of hot takes trying to account for the relative frigidity. Is increased education around consent affecting behaviors? Are Millennials too busy forging their careers to worry about silly distractions like kissing and orgasms? Have dating apps turned us into distant, affection-fearing robots? Has porn become a too-easy and accessible alternative?
(Or are many of us just kinda douches? Witness an 18 year old interviewed by The Washington Post: “‘Third-wave feminists seem to be crazy, saying that all men are participating in this rape culture.’ He opts for porn instead. ‘It’s quicker. It’s more accessible. What you see is what you get.’”)
Whatever it is, we hope this generation (of which I am a part of—just) snaps out of it. Sex is generally not as scary as all that porn we're watching might sometimes make it seem, and consensual sexual encounters are a huge part of learning about yourself, whether they're amazing experiences or they have you reaching for that Men In Black tool that makes you forget everything.
Check Time Out New York's ‘Let us sex-plan’ columnist Jillian Anthony's words of wisdom for Millennials who come to her with their own anxieties and sexual challenges.