Sex Is Cheap

Slate ^ | Feb. 25, 2011 | Mark Regnerus

[Mrs. Don-o]

We keep hearing that young men are failing to adapt to contemporary life. Their financial prospects are impaired—earnings for 25- to 34-year-old men have fallen by 20 percent since 1971. Their college enrollment numbers trail women's: Only 43 percent of American undergraduates today are men. Last year, women made up the majority of the work force for the first time. And yet there is one area in which men are very much in charge: premarital heterosexual relationships.

[snip]

What many young men wish for—access to sex without too many complications or commitments—carries the day. If women were more fully in charge of how their relationships transpired, we'd be seeing, on average, more impressive wooing efforts, longer relationships, fewer premarital sexual partners, shorter cohabitations, and more marrying going on.

Instead, according to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (which collects data well into adulthood), none of these things is occurring. Not one...

To better understand what's going on, it's worth a crash course in "sexual economics"...

[snip]

Yes, sex is clearly cheap for men. Women's "erotic capital," as Catherine Hakim of the London School of Economics has dubbed it, ... can't assure her love and lifelong commitment. Not in this market. ...Michelle, a 20-year-old from Colorado, said ..."I had an ex-boyfriend of mine who said that, um, he didn't know if he was ever going to get married because, he said, there's always going to be someone better." [snip]

And yet while young men's failures in life are not penalizing them in the bedroom, their sexual success may, ironically, be hindering their drive to achieve in life. Don't forget your Freud: Civilization is built on blocked, redirected, and channeled sexual impulse, because men will work for sex. Today's young men, however, seldom have to.

[snip]

[TexasTransplant]

Laz pulls that joke off better than I do

Laz should have a disclaimer

“Don’t try this at home folks, I’m a trained professional”

TT

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

‘Their victory will largely depend on our weakness; not their strength.’

Sad but true.

[Chickensoup]

Disclaimer: I am not now and do not expect to be, in a
relationship at any time in the future. I have a dog.

___________________

Somehow, telling us that you have a dog doesnt help your case here.

[Amberdawn]

Exactly. It amazes me that some posters here fail to realize that dating and relationships are a two way street. Both sides are so busy ‘getting even’.

[boop]

LOL! Actually one of the most interesting things Malcolm X wrote, was that if a woman provides a home for a man, and (NOT politically correct) treats him like a king in his castle, that he'll never stray. Men DO like to come home to a good looking, sexually appealing wife who can cook and maintain a household. Sorry, but true.

Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?

[little jeremiah]

Not “liberating”; turning them into libertines. And the women, too. Feminism started from envy. And went downhill after that. It’s pure evil.

[Sparky21555]

First and foremost, I cannot believe that none of you have anykind of meaningful relationship. Some have hinted of it, but none defined. I thank God everyday for my wife. She loves, cares, and adores me. I, in turn, love, care, and adore her. We are by no means a perfect couple. She wakes me in the morning, and kisses me goodnight. She curses me in the morning and kisses me in the evening. I’ve never had better....well I won’t go there.

Thank you God for blessing me (and cursing me sometimes,LOL) for this beautiful woman.

secondly, I can’t believe I’m up so late!

[seowulf]

Men DO like to come home to a good looking, sexually appealing wife who can cook and maintain a household.

Not only do they like it, they respect it. There's nothing quite like a woman who can take care of the kids and make things run like a clock.

It takes skill and a smart man knows it and appreciates it.

[Pining_4_TX]

You got it. I have seen more young women live with a guy for a while, the guy leaves for greener pastures, and she is left wondering why he didn’t marry her.

[Jeff Gordon]

Breaking news. Women like sex.

[wardaddy]

it was about empowering less attractive women

pretty women have always been empowered and transcendent

[fr_freak]

I for one am glad your offspring are perfect makes life so easy I am jealous of you / s

Not at all. I have no illusions about being perfect. My only point is that we can't sit back and blame the upcoming generation for their faults without accepting at least some of the responsibility for them. Maybe we didn't participate in ruining this culture and destroying the roles of men and women in our society, but what did we do to stop it? What did we do to promote the healthy and strong cultural values? We get on FR and bitch about how the government schools are corrupting our youth, but what have we done to correct it? Only the homeschoolers have actually done something. It makes no sense to me to ridicule the young for their faults without realizing that, as the older generation, we have failed.

[Tax-chick]

Philippians is one of my favorite books. We had the first two chapters memorized at one point ... I think I’ll make committing the whole thing to memory my project for Lent!

I’m reminded of the lines of Robert Burns, about “seeing ourselves as others see us.” If we all looked at ourselves with illusion, we’d have fewer complaints about others!

[trisham]

I don’t know. It does seem to me that many of today’s young women have different goals than I did, but that’s really the extent of my awareness and understanding of this issue.

[redgolum]

Look at the history of it, and how it was presented in the 1700’s.

It was more about having multiple sex partners for men.

[trisham]

Imho, Charlie is bi-polar. That’s an entirely different issue.

[PapaBear3625]

"If he’s in his 50’s, ugly as hell, but RICH, he’ll have his pick of the litter."
If he wants to stay rich, he'll let somebody else pick up the litter.

Over 50, he can have a vasectomy and decline to marry. She can live in his mansion as long as she behaves. He just needs to be careful of not letting the arrangement be considered a common-law marriage, and be careful of "palimony".

[Huck]

That doesn't prove women don't want casual sex. It proves that women are smart enough to know that situation proposed is very dangerous.

It proves that you have to buy a woman a few drinks and pretend to find them interesting first, whereas a man is willing to skip all that and just drop trow.

[Huck]

it was about empowering less attractive women pretty women have always been empowered and transcendent

One of Rush Limbaugh's undeniable truths.

[winodog]

haha Some freepers are perfect, perfect families, perfect jobs, perfect healthcare, not to mention great looking and in fabulous shape.

You have been around here long enough to know that.
I wanna ask them (if you are so perfect, why do you feel the need to brag about it and and attempt to dress down your fellow man in a public forum?)
They should out volunteering nd staying on top of perfection instead of showing off online