We Are In A Sex Recession….  Nearly 25% of Young Adults Had NO SEX In Past Year!

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, September 27th, and it seems the bad news just keeps on coming. We got inflation. We got gas prices going up. We got the war in Iran. Eggs cost too much. Beef cost too much. And now they're telling us we are in a recession, a sex recession. Oh, couldn't get any worse than that. And with that, welcome to this episode. Of Amy and TJ, a sex recession is what we're currently in. But it's important to note, Robes, this does not apply to all age groups. We're talking about a particular age group. They are in a recession.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: This is so bizarre. It is the opposite of what you would think.

00:00:42
Speaker 3: Yes, there are two new studies out that show younger people.

00:00:46
Speaker 2: literally are not having sex.

00:00:48
Speaker 3: And they're certainly not having as much sex as past generations.

00:00:53
Speaker 2: And there are actual real concerns because of it.

00:00:58
Speaker 1: Robes on its face, right? You having less sex is one thing. No, no, no, folks. We're talking about this because they are having so little sex that scientists are getting concerned of the future of this country.

00:01:10
Speaker 3: So there are two studies, the Institute for Family Studies and Do you buy this?

00:01:15
Speaker 2: This is wild to me.

00:01:17
Speaker 3: They claim 24% of adults ages 18 to 29 reported having no sex in the past year. That is nearly a quarter of adults from 18 to 29 when their bodies are hot, when they're young, when that testosterone is pumping.

00:01:37
Speaker 2: They're not having sex? That is wild to me.

00:01:42
Speaker 3: Um....

00:01:44
Speaker 1: The headline says one thing, and then you start thinking about all the 18 to 29-year-olds you know, and what they're doing, and where they spend their time, and how long they're in their room by themselves sometimes, and spending their time. The type, Robes, the headline might be shocking. The breakdown, you go, oh, this is just the next piece, Robes, to phones, isolation, social media. It's all ties in. They're not drinking. They're drinking less. Are they smoking less?

00:02:17
Speaker 2: I don't know if they're smoking less. They're smoking cigarettes less.

00:02:20
Speaker 1: They're vaping more.

00:02:22
Speaker 3: And all of that, what you just mentioned, we'll get into the whys, but all of those reasons play into this. But yeah, when you hear that nearly a quarter of all adults, well, I said not all adults, but young adults had no sex in the past year, they've been doing these types of studies. It has doubled from 10 years ago. So that same question was asked. Just 12% of young adults reported not having sex. So that is significant, the fact that it has doubled in a decade. Now, Playboy did a study.

00:02:51
Speaker 2: I didn't know Playboy did studies.

00:02:53
Speaker 1: You know what? I know this sounds a little crazy, but Playboy has been responsible for some pretty significant cultural events. reporting over the years.

00:03:02
Speaker 2: Yes, people forget for the articles, I know.

00:03:04
Speaker 1: People, that's always a joke. Rose, I could go, I could find you a ton of significant interviews and whatnot they've done over the years.

00:03:11
Speaker 3: Yes.

00:03:11
Speaker 1: They have gotten credit. I know, I know. That's always the joke.

00:03:15
Speaker 3: It is the joke.

00:03:15
Speaker 1: But you gotta give them credit. They have done some good stuff over the years.

00:03:18
Speaker 3: Yes, so they also conducted a study. They found that, and this wasn't even young adults, babe. This was 29% of respondents overall said they hadn't had sex in the past three months. 30% of adults basically just haven't had sex in the past three months at all.

00:03:36
Speaker 1: Okay. There's nothing wrong with that. I don't see any issue. Now, scientists, if they're looking at this over years and seeing a trend, then that becomes a problem. But the idea, before the stat, if an adult tells you, what age was this? No, this was just all adults.

00:03:53
Speaker 3: This was just all adults over the past three months. 29% said they hadn't had sex in three months. And one in five had never had sex at all.

00:04:03
Speaker 2: Wait, of all adults? They said younger, like of the respondents.

00:04:07
Speaker 1: These are younger or just all?

00:04:08
Speaker 3: They must be younger. 20% had not had sex at all. Here's the twist, though. That same study, this again, Playboy, 80% of respondents reported moderate to very high levels of desire to have sex. So... 80% of the folks who said, yeah, we, a lot of us aren't having sex, 80% of them really, really, really want to be having sex.

00:04:31
Speaker 1: It takes effort. You do have to put the phone down. You do have to brush your teeth. You might need to get a haircut. You might need to coordinate your shoes with your belt. You might need to do some things to go out and actually look desirable to somebody else. Robes isn't, I don't know, I haven't looked. This is another one of those folks, yes, that Robes tells me not to look into ahead of time, but does it, Does that factor into any of this, the effort? People don't want to put the effort in to doing what it takes to date and to have attraction and to become desirable. You're just supposed to, I'm here on my phone. I swiped. What's the problem?

00:05:08
Speaker 3: Right? I mean, I think that people, I would just say this generation that has only known a phone and have relied on dating apps, and by the way, they do say that burnout from dating apps is part of the reason why people just give up.

00:05:30
Speaker 2: They just give up.

00:05:32
Speaker 1: Burnout from the apps?

00:05:33
Speaker 3: Yep.

00:05:34
Speaker 1: You remember when women used to say they were burned out from dating?

00:05:37
Speaker 3: They're burned out from swiping. Now, there is some positive news, I think, especially for parents.

00:05:42
Speaker 2: Can't wait.

00:05:43
Speaker 3: With teenagers, the CDC just released its stats. There is a massive decline in teen sex. And I do think that that is a good thing. In 2013, how many, what percentage of teens reported having sex do you think in 2013?

00:05:59
Speaker 2: 47%. That seems about right.

00:06:01
Speaker 3: About half of teens in 2013 said they had had sex. In 2023, that dropped to 32%. That is a huge decline in teen sex.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: We've reported on this and teen pregnancy rates being down.

00:06:16
Speaker 2: Yes.

00:06:17
Speaker 1: Okay, congratulations. Scientists, schools. Educators, CDC, everybody who has put an effort into that over decades can see those results. That is awesome.

00:06:26
Speaker 2: That is awesome. That is the good news.

00:06:28
Speaker 3: But for grown adults who are fully capable and it's a healthy thing to be having sex, why are they not having sex?

00:06:37
Speaker 2: Experts say, yes, the burnout from dating apps.

00:06:39
Speaker 3: The other thing I thought this was interesting, they say that this younger generation feels more socially anxious about.

00:06:46
Speaker 2: Going out and meeting people.

00:06:49
Speaker 3: Shocking that they report feeling this massive fear of rejection because we know as people who didn't grow up with phones, they have not had the same kind of one on one social exposure that we had coming up.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: We didn't have apps. We didn't have phones. We had to go out.

00:07:08
Speaker 3: And meet people and engage and get rejected and be OK with it.

00:07:12
Speaker 1: But we get rejected one-on-one. These folks are looking online and somebody didn't like your post. So, you know, you got 50 comments. That's 50 rejections. That's nothing compared to you, Robach, when one dude turns you down. Robes, that part of it is.

00:07:27
Speaker 3: Right.

00:07:28
Speaker 1: Human interaction is everything. This is how you learn, baby. Social cues. How you learn not to throw a fit when you get rejected. It's a part of it. It's okay. And you learn. If you never leave your room to learn that, how can anyone have any idea about sexual desire if you're not sitting next to someone and knowing, I like that smell. I like that hair. You know what? I don't mind that she chews that way. You know what? I never thought I'd see a woman in jeans like that that I think was hot. These are things you figure out in dating. Robed, you're sitting in a room. Man, I'm horny as hell. I wish I could have some sex. I ain't going out there to get rejected.

00:08:07
Speaker 3: That's what it sounds like. And by the way, we love Married at First Sight. We love all of these dating shows. We're watching the newest season now. And you see these attractive 20-something folks, men and women, both saying they're afraid.

00:08:22
Speaker 2: They have sexual, what do they call it? Intimacy, anxiety, or sexual anxiety.

00:08:29
Speaker 3: And you're looking at these two good-looking, young, robust people, and you're like, why do you have sexual anxiety? They haven't had enough experience in the real world. And they're too afraid of doing it wrong or not, or again, being rejected.

00:08:42
Speaker 1: Is there any suggestion that there's something else contributing to this? This new generation is not just a matter of phones. It's not just... I don't know, is it something they're seeing in media these days? Is it something, I don't know, TV shows, different types of, I don't know. Is there anything else they're pointing to other than they're coming up in a different way?

00:09:00
Speaker 2: There's a couple of things.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: They said many young adults have moved back in with their parents, which has now become socially acceptable. They say it used to be embarrassing, like people would never want to admit it. Now they're proud of it because it makes them say that they're financially savvy. A lot of the kids who have moved back in with their parents have jobs, have really good paying jobs. And so they're proud. We've also seen this on Married at First Sight. Look at me being financially smart. I'm saving my money. And it's actually almost a flex to say you've moved in with your parents.

00:09:35
Speaker 1: Okay, then you help me here. It's a flex to say I moved in with my parents because I'm financially savvy, like you just said. On the other side of that, is there an indication that for the people who are out there dating who live in their own homes don't mind or find it attractive or they don't skip a beat when I say, oh, you live at home? No big deal. Is it being accepted as a practice that might even be attractive?

00:10:07
Speaker 3: They are claiming that it does not have the stigma that it once had. However, it is stopping those folks from bringing home somebody to have sex in mom and dad's homes. So that's contributing to The lack of sex because, yes, privacy issues or just the fact that that would possibly be embarrassing to have your parents be home while you're having sex with a girlfriend or bringing a date home.

00:10:32
Speaker 1: But no suggestion that it will make someone less aroused. When they hear that you live at home with your mama.

00:10:44
Speaker 3: Obviously, it would be like that for you or me, but they're saying this generation doesn't mind it as much. Now, listen to the numbers, too. This is from June 2026. This is a report in Realtor.com. So for 2025, 25.2 million adults, adults under 35 lived with their parents. That is a record high since they've been keeping records. It is the highest it has ever been. 25.2 million adults, 35 and under live with their parents.

00:11:17
Speaker 1: I know you said stigma, but how much of that has to do with job market and the realities of.

00:11:23
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm sure that all plays into it, but they did say a lot of these folks do have jobs and they wanted that to be, that was what was different from generations past where you moved in with your parents because you had to, because you had no other choice because you lost your job or you couldn't find a job. This isn't what they're saying. They just like mom and dad and like to be saving their money. And obviously they're not having to pay rent rent or a massively reduced one and they get meals cooked for them and it just feels good and safe and awesome.

00:11:50
Speaker 2: And they don't have to fully grow up. And so they're not having sex.

00:11:53
Speaker 1: There is nothing like mama being upstairs that will mess up your sex life.

00:11:59
Speaker 2: Exactly.

00:12:00
Speaker 3: Now, when we come back, we're going to tell you about some of the other factors to blame.

00:12:04
Speaker 2: Some of them are good.

00:12:05
Speaker 3: Yes, we mentioned the drinking less part, but experts also point to what this could lead to long term for our society. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Yes, it's official. It's been studied. It's been documented. Young people just are not having sex.

00:12:34
Speaker 1: But you said they want to.

00:12:35
Speaker 2: They want to, but they're not having it.

00:12:37
Speaker 3: So a couple of the other factors that experts have looked into as to the why behind all of this, they say one of the big ones, young people aren't drinking. They're going to fewer parties. They aren't, that's, and look, and that's the sex maybe that's like the regret sex. And so if it's stopping regret sex, that's a good thing, I would say, because being drunk and at a party and waking up next to somebody isn't exactly the kind of healthy sex that any parent would want for their child or anybody would want for someone they love.

00:13:08
Speaker 1: But they make for good stories.

00:13:12
Speaker 2: And you learn lessons along the way.

00:13:14
Speaker 3: You do.

00:13:14
Speaker 1: Robes, this is a part of, I'm not suggesting anybody run out there and go have some irresponsible sex. No, not at all. But, bro, there's an experience that some people do have that leads you to some maturity. It leads you to.

00:13:28
Speaker 2: Yes.

00:13:28
Speaker 3: Yes, it's... Some lessons are learned the hard way, but yes, because there is less of that party mentality.

00:13:35
Speaker 2: Fewer people, they think that absolutely has contributed to less sex.

00:13:38
Speaker 1: They also... You know what? I'm sorry. On the drink, is it the drinking or is the social aspect that comes with the drinking? Are they saying you get loose?

00:13:45
Speaker 3: Yes. Yes.

00:13:46
Speaker 1: But then they say those people aren't going out anyway.

00:13:48
Speaker 3: Right. They're not going to parties. So, like, think about the parties that we went to coming up. Oh, my God. The house parties, the basement parties, the parties. They're just not happening the way they used to. Now, they also say COVID actually hurt this particular age group significantly because right at a time when they were supposed to be developing these social skills, for two.

00:14:10
Speaker 2: Years, they were.

00:14:11
Speaker 3: It was a pivotal time where you're developing habits and you're creating... And maybe, yes, experiencing certain things, they were stunted. Like high school, college, all of a sudden, boom, you're isolated. And you get into other habits of isolation, of your.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: Computer, of being in your room alone, of not going out.

00:14:29
Speaker 3: And it just created habits at a pivotal time during their lives.

00:14:32
Speaker 1: You know, I can never keep this straight, so help me here. The order of these groups. What's Gen Z?

00:14:38
Speaker 3: Gen Z is, I believe it's like basically everyone in their 20s pretty much right now.

00:14:43
Speaker 1: Okay. Is Annalise Gen Z?

00:14:45
Speaker 2: Annalise is Gen Z. Ava is Gen Z. Yes.

00:14:49
Speaker 3: So that 18 to 29 age group. Well, by the way, here's a good way to look at it.

00:14:54
Speaker 2: Sabine is now Gen Alpha.

00:14:56
Speaker 3: And she said she missed it by like her birthday is beginning of January. So the cutoff was December 31st. So I would say anyone 14 to 30 basically is in this Gen Z group. And so, yeah, this is the group that you would expect to be having lots of sex in.

00:15:13
Speaker 2: And so that's why it's so shocking.

00:15:15
Speaker 3: And they say that young people are also, and I've heard this from both of my daughters, report a significantly less desire to get married, to have families, especially at a younger age.

00:15:26
Speaker 2: Everybody wants to punt to later.

00:15:28
Speaker 3: And so that is showing up already in our fertility rate.

00:15:31
Speaker 1: Do we know that about regions, right? We are in the Northeast. And yes, I've always heard that from everybody I've interacted with since I've been in New York. But in the South, we still know people getting married very early.

00:15:44
Speaker 2: My nephew just got engaged at 22.

00:15:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I wonder, is it still the way, it's always been that way, right? The South and certain places are, I wonder if it's changed.

00:15:54
Speaker 3: You and I both got married, both got engaged at 22, married at 23 from the South. That's almost unheard of where we live now in the Northeast. And certainly our daughters are being influenced by that. But yeah, family members in the South are. Plenty of them getting married young. Plenty of them. But the fertility rate is dropping. In just the last decade, we went from 2.1 children per woman to just 1.6. That is a massive drop-off in just 10 years.

00:16:23
Speaker 2: And it's going to go down further, they believe.

00:16:27
Speaker 1: And, look, I mean, reasons for that. What were we just doing? We just did some episode talking about fertility rates when it has to do with women who are waiting longer. Who just had a baby or something we were talking about. But we were talking about this and that the fertility rate, a part of your explaining, but it's also dropping because women have different opportunities. They have different opportunities in the job force. And science. Medical science has advanced. They can wait.

00:16:54
Speaker 2: They're told they can.

00:16:56
Speaker 1: It's possible. Who was it? Just had a baby and we said we need to make sure this was via surrogate. We went, Right? You always, because we have so many of these stories, who was it? Who were we just talking about? The story was about Millie Bobby Brown having adopted a second at the age, or a surrogate at 22.

00:17:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's had her second baby by 22. But we were.

00:17:18
Speaker 1: Talking about something I can't remember. Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. I thought I was, it was right on the tip of my tongue.

00:17:23
Speaker 3: Well, I'm trying to remember who it is, too, because I know, obviously, Lady Gaga just had a baby at 40. That's what we're talking about. Yeah, I think that might be what it was. We don't know if she had a surrogate or not because no one ever saw her pregnant.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: But as you were saying, it's important in those stories that, yes, they get out. Oh, my goodness, she's 45 and had a baby. She's 47. I can wait. I can wait. I can wait. And sometimes those stories don't come with, this would be a surrogate, by the way.

00:17:45
Speaker 3: Yes, and I would even tell because both of my daughters have talked about waiting until later, and they'll.

00:17:49
Speaker 2: Point to, look at Janet Jackson, who had a baby at 50.

00:17:53
Speaker 3: I even have some friends who had a baby at 50 and one at 49. And I have to tell them, just so you know... almost certainly those were donor eggs. Your eggs are not viable. You don't have the kind of eggs that are going to produce a healthy baby. And so I don't think young women are told that caveat, which actually is a big deal because if you want to have your biological child, waiting till you're in your 40s is not a guarantee. You might be able to still get pregnant, sure, and you might still be able to have a baby, absolutely, but not necessarily with your DNA. And that's something I think that gets lost on a lot of young women. They are surprised to hear that. Now, how about this? I wanted to end it with this because I thought this was interesting. The top single reason in some of these studies that Americans gave for remaining single, it was not money. And I would think in past generations, It would be, well, I want to make sure I get established. I want to make sure I have enough money before I actually start a family or settle down with someone. Money is always what people would have attributed it to. So the top single reason was not money. It was not jobs. It wasn't even being ready to be committed. It was, quote, it's hard to find the right person to marry. Ain't that interesting? That's when I go back to the apps and the socialization. I feel like when you think you have so many choices, you think you're swiping, you're swiping, you're swiping, you think there's the perfect persons out there or you think there'll be someone better and you have too many choices and therefore you can make none. They said it's hard to find the right person to marry. I think people have high expectations and false expectations of what the perfect mate looks like, sounds like, is like.

00:19:52
Speaker 1: That's always been the case, though, right? And hearing everything you were saying, I think, fine. Stop looking. If you have that, if you literally, you tell me, Rose, and maybe a lot of people and women in particular do, you're on the hunt for somebody who fits into An idea you have in your head. Yep. I'm not going to go out and find them. I'm going to keep swiping and swiping and swiping until I find something that fits that. Then I'm going to go out and have coffee with them. And it's not going to go well. Then I'm going to come back here and I'm going to get online and I'm going to go off about how terrible dating is. Is that generally how it goes? Yes. And that's fine with people's experiences. It's a new generation thing. Knock yourselves out to each his and her own. I hear it and we just came up in a different way. We have a different experience, Robes, and I know good and well how wonderful it is to have a surprise attraction or excited energy or butterflies that you didn't expect. Those are experiences we're not talking about anymore. Robes, there is nothing like walking into a place Seeing somebody at the end of the bar or somebody that you just unexpectedly ran into and you get butterflies in a subway car or just robes. Those are just experiences that I don't hear talked about when it comes to dating and sex recessions. And I just swiped and why can't he do this? Okay, just give it a shot. Just talk to somebody.

00:21:22
Speaker 2: And if you get rejected, it's okay. Welcome to the world.

00:21:28
Speaker 1: What is the thing we always, you say it all the time about preparing the road for the child. All of these potential daters are trying to prepare.

00:21:37
Speaker 2: Wow, that's so true.

00:21:38
Speaker 1: Prepare that road. So make sure when I start dating, there are no bumps, no detours, no nothing. No, you need to get battle hardened to go out there and date. You need to be able to recognize from the jump. In five minutes, this dude ain't for me. Because you know it because you've been there. You've done that. You have enough experience.

00:22:02
Speaker 3: And you learn about yourself along the way, too. There's no better way to grow personally, individually, than to experience life with someone and recognize how we're all so different and to find those ways of just, yeah, compromise. I don't think anyone wants to compromise anything anymore.

00:22:22
Speaker 1: They're told they don't have to. Because if you do that, you're in some way giving up a part of who you are for somebody else. You don't have to do that. Take me as I am. This is me. What's that line you say all the time? I'm a lot. You say it sometimes. When people are this is who I am. I'm just being me.

00:22:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just me. Like, yeah, accept me, take me or leave me. But like, this is who I am. Yeah, who you are can be an asshole sometimes. Sometimes we need to change.

00:22:50
Speaker 2: We need to evolve. We always do. But look, hopefully, I don't know.

00:22:55
Speaker 3: This is a wake up call. And we've seen it in our own kids. I've seen it in some of their friends. This fear of rejection, this fear of, criticism this fear of having to compromise and man that all of those things are what make us human and make us grow so I hope I hope something changes and y'all I mean just loosen up have some fun don't worry so much about the outcome right.

00:23:23
Speaker 2: Easy to say hard to do but yep um well.

00:23:28
Speaker 3: I just think that this is something that hopefully will change and won't stay the same.

00:23:32
Speaker 2: Things always evolve. And I wanted to put this on your map, everybody, or on your radar. Always appreciate you listening to us, everyone. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes. We'll talk soon.