Millennials Less Sexually Active

Millennials Less Sexually Active
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Fifty Shades of Grey' (2015) – "Fifty Shades of Grey" came out around Valentine's Day in 2015, a perfect time for a film whose sex scenes had some blushing red. It isn't the first movie with risque scenes that had moviegoers titillated.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Last Tango in Paris' (1972) – Graphic sex scenes between Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in "Last Tango in Paris" shocked the world at the time and initially earned the film an X rating as well as two Academy Award nominations.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Don't Look Now' (1973) – The graphic sex scenes between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in "Don't Look Now" resulted in an X rating at first and have fans still wondering, did they or didn't they?
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Nine 1/2 Weeks' (1986) – "Nine 1/2 Weeks," starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger, wasn't a huge commercial success, and critics didn't love it -- except maybe Roger Ebert -- but it had couples acting out that food scene.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' (1988) – Daniel Day-Lewis and Lena Olin had some sexy scenes in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Basic Instinct' (1992) – Gay activists protested "Basic Instinct ," starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone, as they felt that the portrayal of her bisexual character was offensive.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'The Lover' (1992) – Jane March and Tony Leung Ka Fai star as a young girl and her older lover in "The Lover."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Mulholland Drive' (1996) – Naomi Watts, left, and Laura Harring got hot and heavy in "Mulholland Drive."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Bound' (1996) – Gina Gershon, left, and Jennifer Tilly play lovers in "Bound."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Love Jones' (1997) – "Love Jones" is the story of a poet and photographer -- Nia Long and Larenz Tate -- trying to figure out if they'd found lasting love, and it's filled with scenes of their lustful explorations. Their initial sleepover, set to the tune of Maxwell's "Sumthin' Sumthin'," is one that'll threaten to set fire to your TV.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Wild Things' (1998) – Matt Dillon and Denise Richards helped steam things up in the erotic thriller "Wild Things," which included a menage a trois scene with Neve Campbell.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Eyes Wide Shut' (1999) – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were still married when they co-starred in "Eyes Wide Shut," in which iconic director Stanley Kubrick pushed the envelope. Years later, there is still talk about hidden messages.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Cruel Intentions' (1999) – The cast of "Cruel Intentions" had chemistry all the way around, but the heat between the once-married Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe was palpable.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Monster's Ball' (2001) – Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton dealt with some heavy emotional issues in "Monster's Ball" while engaging in passion.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Y Tu Mama Tambien' (2001) – Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna and Maribel Verdu form a passionate trio in "Y Tu Mama Tambien."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Secretary' (2002) – "Secretary," starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader, explores the relationship between a submissive secretary and her boss.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'The Brown Bunny' (2003) – The controversy surrounding a fellatio scene in "The Brown Bunny," starring Vincent Gallo and Chloe Sevigny, reportedly caused the actress some trouble.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'The Notebook' (2004) – "The Notebook" has become the gold standard for romantic movies, but one scene in particular will have viewers pausing to rewind. When Ryan Gosling's Noah and Rachel McAdams' Allie Calhoun reunite, not even pouring rain can dampen the sensual scene that follows.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Brokeback Mountain' (2005) – Heath Ledger, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal share a cowboy love that dare not speak its name in "Brokeback Mountain."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'A History of Violence' (2005) – Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello are a loving couple who face danger in "A History of Violence." But they also don't mind spicing it up with costumes and role play.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Black Snake Moan' (2006) – If there's any reason to see "Black Snake Moan," it's to see just how well Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake work together in their love scenes.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Shortbus' (2006) – Raphael Barker and Sook-Yin Lee star in "Shortbus," about a female sex therapist and a group of sexually adventurous New Yorkers.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'The Reader' (2008) – Kate Winslet and David Kross played out the heat between a younger man and an older woman in "The Reader."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Blue Valentine' (2010) – Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams did such excellent work portraying sometimes-volatile lovers in "Blue Valentine" that the Motion Picture Association of America initially tried to give the movie an NC-17 rating.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Black Swan' (2010) – Mila Kunis reportedly banned her father from watching her sex scene with Natalie Portman in "Black Swan."
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Blue is the Warmest Color' (2013) – Adele Exarchopoulos, left, and Lea Seydoux star in "Blue is the Warmest Color," which drew lots of attention upon its release because of its graphic sex scenes, including one that is more than six minutes long.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013) – Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio could make pretty much anything look amazing, including enjoying one another on top of a pile of money. Turns out that steamy scene wasn't as fun for the actress: "If anyone is ever planning on having sex on top of a pile of cash: don't," Robbie said in an interview with The Daily Beast.
Photos: Hollywood's steamiest sex scenes
'Nymphomaniac' (2014) – From its title to its promotional posters -- close-ups of actors such as Shia LaBeouf, left, making passionate grimaces -- "Nymphomaniac" sold us on its sex appeal. The movie, directed by Lars von Trier, was split into two parts and released in spring 2014.
Story highlights 15% of young adults reported no sexual partners since turning 18 Technology may be partly to blame
"This is part of a general theme of later maturation that's been pretty well-documented," said Jean Twenge, lead researcher of the new study and author of the book "Generation Me."
Just as young adults are now less likely to have jobs and get married and are more likely to live with their parents, part of this sexual trend may have something to do with economic realities, she said. Still, other factors might also explain these results.
"There's the possibility that technology has something to do with this," Twenge said. If you're spending more time texting with your friends and less time in person, she explained, you might have fewer opportunities to "hook up." Or, more simply, since "there are more ways to entertain yourself," sex is less important, being just one of many possibilities on a growing list.
For the study, Twenge and her colleagues used data from the General Social Survey, which was conducted between the years 1989 and 2014. The survey essentially asked all the right questions for the purposes of this study, explained Ryne Sherman, co-author of the paper and a psychologist at Florida Atlantic University.
The nationally representative survey includes demographic information about each respondent, allowing Twenge and Sherman to compare differences in sexual activity across lines of gender, race, education level, region and religious service attendance. Among a hundred or so queries about a variety of topics, the survey asks people direct questions about their sexual partners.
This was crucial, said Twenge, also a professor of psychology at San Diego State University. "We could compare people at the same age ... and we were looking at no sexual partners compared to having any sexual partners."
What they discovered was that young adults today -- millennials (born starting in the 1980s) and iGen (born in the '90s) -- are less likely to be sexually active compared with young adults from Generation X -- those born in the 1960s and '70s. They also discovered that levels of sexual inactivity increased for women more than men, whites more than blacks, those who did not attend college more than those who did, and those who lived in the east more than those in the west.
In terms of getting a late start having sex, millennials most resembled those born during the 1920s.
Twenge and Sherman were not very surprised by their results. A separate study of changing sexual attitudes they published last year suggested as much.
"It's also consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data," said Martin Monto, a sociology professor at the University of Portland who is not linked to the current study. The most recent CDC data (PDF) on teen sexual behavior found that the percentage of high school students who have had sex plummeted from 54% in 1991 to 41% in 2015.
"A lot of that drop happened pretty recently," Twenge commented.
Based on the latest statistics, Twenge observed that this generation appears to be waiting longer to have sex, while an increasing minority wait even longer -- until their early 20s or later.
"It's a good study; the data is excellent: It's consistent with other data, so it's pretty solid," said Monto, whose own 2014 study involving data from the General Social Survey found that young adults between 18 and 25 did not report "more sexual partners since age 18, more frequent sex, or more partners during the past year" than Generation X respondents.
They're commonly billed as the "hookup" generation, but this gives a false impression of millennials, explained Monto. "The term 'hookup' is entirely ambiguous," he said, and since it is "basically a nebulous term that could mean anything," it has led to a misunderstanding of what's actually going on today.
Overall, both Monto's and Twenge's results suggest a win for the young adults who are not emotionally ready for a romantic relationship. The pressure is off everyone. However, "humans hit their sexual peak in their early 20s," noted Twenge, so presumably there are many who are ready for and want a romantic relationship, but they simply have fewer opportunities.
Finally, there's the issue of safety. "Mine was the first generation that came of age when sex could equal death," Twenge said, noting that the AIDS crisis occurred during Gen Xers' formative years. "Thankfully, that abated somewhat," she said, though now "there's a new concept about emotional safety." As an example, she mentioned trigger warnings, in which content (primarily online) is flagged as potentially disturbing.
"This generation is much more concerned about safety on both a physical and an emotional level," Twenge said.
© 2022 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Updated 0518 GMT (1318 HKT) August 3, 2016
(CNN) Today's 20-year-olds are having less sex than the previous generation. About 15% of adults between the ages of 20 and 24 reported having no sexual partners since they turned 18, according to new research published today in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Just 6% of the previous generation said the same at that age.
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The reason is actually pretty shocking…
Way back when, during a time that wasn’t 2017, before Tinder and Bumble and online dating , romantic relationships were a sacred thing. Not that I would personally know, considering I’ve only been alive 20-something years.
However, from stories old people tell, and just general knowledge and whatnot, we know that modern dating (and sex) is definitely not what it used to be. In fact, dating for Gen X’ers was wildly different than those before them, and not surprisingly, sex and dating for millennials is unlike anything history has ever seen. That, I would know.
According to researchers from San Diego State University, led by Professor Jean Twenge, “Millennials hold the most permissive sexual attitudes of any generation, though they chose to have sex with fewer partners than Gen X’ers did at the same age.”
So, it sounds like millennials are having the most free-spirited and least judgmental sex of any generation , however, they’re having less sex than Gen X’ers did. Interesting.
To throw in some hard stats, let’s visit a report that the CDC released last week , documenting the decline in sexual activity among teenagers: between the ages of 15 and 19, 42 percent of women and 44 percent of men reported having sex, relative to a significantly higher 51 percent of women and 60 percent of men in 1988. Wow ! Staggering!
“It’s definitely not true that millennials are having way more sex than everybody else,” Lisa Wade , a professor of sociology at Occidental College, explains . You got that right, Lisa.
But isn’t it a little odd that, despite being the most liberal generation yet, millennials are having less sex than the pessimistic, nihilistic generation before them? Yeah, I would say so, especially considering the fact that millennials have all kinds of dating apps for any kind of casual sex they could possibly hope to have.
Transactional sex ? Check. Gluten free sex ? Sure thing. Anonymous sex? There’s an app for that, too.
With all that in mind, why are millennials having less sex than previous generations? If they have so many options and all the freedom in the world to explore said options, why aren’t they super duper promiscuous? The answer as to why is still a mystery, even to experts, but Dr. Wade has a theory.
“What has definitely changed is the frame for the sexual activity,” Wade says, explaining that the umbrella term “date” has a different meaning now than it did in generations past.
Simply put, in previous generations, when two people went out on a date, nine times out of ten it meant that they were seeking a romantic relationship that they hoped would lead to marriage. Now, though, it’s very, very common for two people going out on a date to want absolutely nothing more than sex.
To illustrate, a “date” in 2017 can simply mean going to a bar together, getting obliterated, calling her by the wrong name all night, proceeding to have terrible Tinder sex , and then never speaking again. You get the idea.
Because of this change in backdrop, “the way we then choose to interact and communicate changes. Suddenly, everyone is working off of different scripts, or templates of interaction and behavior,” as VICE puts it.
“The ‘just sex’ script are both sort of very palpably present, and they have a really hard time knowing which one they’re supposed to be using with the other person, which one the other person is using, and when it might flip on them,” Wade says. “One of my students said she felt like there was no ground beneath her feet. It’s just gotten more confusing.”
Wade explains that in this new context and new form of communication, it’s a safer bet to go with the “just sex” script, because you won’t look desperate, and you’ll avoid rejection by not wanting anything more than to get all up in her panties.
“So, with everybody defaulting to using the ‘just sex’ script, or ready at a moment’s notice to flip over to the ‘just sex’ script to deny vulnerability, then that’s not gonna be very rewarding, because it requires them to pretend like they don’t care about anybody.
“People may actually care about each other and want romance, or they might not, but everyone is kind of having to perform this disinterest.”
Long story short, the problem here is that millennials feel like they need to act like they don’t care about anybody, and they act like they don’t want to actually date and have a meaningful relationship. Isn’t that sad? I think that’s really sad.
But here’s the catch – even though they act like they don’t give a single fuck about emotional connections, they actually do. Numbers don’t lie. A lot of young people are, in fact, looking for fulfilling relationships with potential life partners.
“I suspect a lot of the sex young people are having is partner seeking… so the sex isn’t really for pleasure; it’s for this other purpose of finding somebody.
“If what you’re doing is looking for a partner in a culture that expects you to have sex before expressing romantic feelings, this sex becomes part of the game you’re playing. So, you wouldn’t necessarily expect the sex to be that great, because you’re just kind of trying people out,” Wade concludes.
And so, to sum up this wildly long discussion, millennial sex is strategic, and not as mindless as it seems. The end.

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