Five Reasons for the (Sex) Recession

Something totally unexpected happened after the pandemic ended: people in the United States stopped having sex. It raises the question, are we in a sex recession?

Now, I think we can both agree that the pandemic era was tough. We’d all like to pretend that 2020 never really happened—like it was just a bad dream. The country, and maybe the world, has collective PTSD from all the masking and jabbing. Plus, the lockdowns and social distancing weren’t exactly conducive to an active sex life. It reminded me of going to college in the 1980s when rampant AIDS was the world’s most effective sexual speed bump.

According to experts, though, the 1980s were pretty hot and bothered. Nearly 50% of adults reported that they were knocking boots every week. But, alas, those were the salad days. Weekly boom-boom started a slow decline that continues today.

Yes, the decline in sexual relations was underway long before “two weeks to stop the spread” was a thing. In fact, you can trace the sexual recession back to the early 1990s. Let me explain.

As the graph below illustrates, roughly 50% of the country was doing the weekly slap & tickle in 1990 (see red line below). By 2021, that number dropped to 35%, meaning that one-third of the country lost interest in creating the sheet monster. No wonder people are so grumpy these days.

So, what happened in the late 1980s? What caused everyone to stop being thirsty for sex? Actually, there are five distinct causes of the declining boom-boom rate. (Hold on, my friend, this conversation is about to get really spicy.)

1. The Little Blue Pill

No, not that blue pill. Get your mind out of the gutter. In 1987, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the blockbuster drug fluoxetine hydrochloride, also known as the branded antidepressant Prozac. It was a game changer for millions who suffered from anxiety and depression. Within two years, American pharmacies were filling 65,000 scripts each month. Within five years, 4.5 million people had taken it.

But, the game-changing antidepressant had side effects. The most pronounced were decreased sexual desire in both men and women, delayed or no orgasm in women, and delayed ejaculation in men.

Yes, ironically, while the second little blue pill (Viagra) enhanced sexual performance, the first one (Prozac) dampened America’s sex drive starting in 1987.

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In 2021/2022, 83.4 million antidepressant scripts were prescribed in the United States, which is a 34.8% increase from 2015/2016. This was the sixth year in a row that antidepressant prescriptions increased, with a 5.1% increase in 2021/2022 alone.

2. Never Married

The late 1980s started a steady decline in the rate of marriage. It’s common sense, but if someone is sleeping next to you every night, it’s a lot easier to make the beast with two backs. Less than 1% of heterosexual married or cohabiting respondents had no sex in the past year.

In 1980, about 13% of Americans had never been married. Today, that number is closer to 35%. That alone is a big reason why people are not playing hide the remote control as regularly these days.

I wrote about this “never married” trend in a piece called Is Marriage Dead? 
Click here to read it next. It’s good.

3. Testosterone

Perhaps the biggest driver of the sex recession is a precipitous drop in male testosterone levels. Testosterone is the male hormone that regulates sex drive.

US men’s testosterone levels started declining in the 1980s. The trend is not related to age. According to Reuter’s, the average male testosterone level is dropping by 1 percent every year.

For example, this means that the testosterone level of a 65-year-old man today is 24% lower than that of a 65-year-old man in 2000.

The declining male hormone levels are impacting the deflowering age. In 1989, only 7% of American men were virgins at age 30. Today, according to the Washington Post, that number has risen to 27%. That’s right, one in four American men are virgins at age 30. Shocking, huh?

Perhaps unrelated, but sperm counts have also dropped 50% since the 1970s. If you have any idea why this is happening, leave me a comment below. I have no idea.

4. Flying Solo

Did you know that America is the largest consumer of pornography in the world? In April 2024, Pornhub was the tenth most visited website in the US, with 1.13 billion visits per month. That’s 37M visits per day. The average screen time is 9 minutes and 41 seconds.

It took 68 years for the airlines to reach 50M users. According to Pornhub one of the world’s largest providers of internet porn, it took just 19 days in business to reach 50M users. 

The age 50-59 cohort (blue line) started their sexless climb around 2000, when about half the country had access to the internet. As access to high-speed, high-def porn grew, so did the sexless 50-59-year-old trend.

Shockingly, the age 55-65 male cohort consumes as much porn as the 18-30 age cohort.

5. Fear Of Going Out (FOGO)

Back before the pandemic, most people suffered quietly from a condition known as FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out. That is, most people were afraid of missing a party, cocktails, or corporate networking events. Today is different. Today, most people in the 50-59 cohort suffer from FOGO, or Fear of Going Out.

Once we all got used to sheltering in our day-jammies and showering once a week, we got lazy. Going out in public turned into a lot of work, especially for those who are single.

Today, one out of four single American women hasn’t had a sex partner for two or more years, while over one in ten hasn’t had a partner for five or more years.

Just check out the blue line below. Those over age 50 saw a dramatic increase in the number of people reporting no sex in the past year. If you don’t ever leave the house, it’s kinda hard to meet a potential partner.

So, let’s do a quick wrap-up of the reasons why we are experiencing such a dramatic reduction in the slap & tickle.

First, the introduction and explosive growth of antidepressants are life-savers, but the pesky sexual side effects can be romance killers. Second, people just aren’t getting married as often as they used to. If you’re not married or seriously committed, it’s a lot harder to find a regular sex partner. Third, the testosterone levels of American males are crashing. Testosterone is the male hormone that regulates sex drive. Fourth, American men consume an enormous amount of porn. The age 55-65 cohort consumes as much porn as the 18-30 age group. Lastly, following the pandemic, many people have FOGO and spend more time at home alone and less time socializing with others.

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