“Cheap Sex” is a great book by sociologist Mark Regnerus to compliment David Buss’ “Evolution of Desire”. It describes the current personal and interpersonal sexuality / gender relations state of affairs in the US. The local trends and stats which do or will impact the rest of the planet via the American Soft Power carrier groups — their role models, Hollywood films, PC games… and porn sites.
The book dispels such misconceptions as “men are afraid to commit”, “feminism is totally great for women”, “the only side effect of the pill is weight gain”… and explains the growing proportion of uncoupled, unsatisfied, lonely people of both genders, unable to make a connection, other than a short physical one. But only for those that include fit, rich, educated men taller than 182 cm.
Add Tinder, Instagram, OnlyFans and female financial independence, and we obtain fierce female competition for a few good men, skewed market dynamics and the cheapening of sex, mentioned in the title.
The low cost and infinite access to a geographically unconstrained human online marketplace disincentivizes working on relationships — it’s cheaper to “return your purchase after a 30-day trial” (dump / divorce) and choose the next candidate, or just masturbate alone, surrounded by immersive HD porn of any shade of gray, cool sex toys and AI-driven robots. Meanwhile, the years go by, and our bodies remain optimized for a very different pattern of behaviors and time spans, whether you freeze your gametes or not. Demand for antidepressants and assisted reproduction increases.
The book’s conclusions are grim, especially for most women and a huge part of men. The technology, ideology and market forces work in unison against any reconciliation, pairing or improvement. And, I’m afraid, Europe is to follow, at least the non-Islamic part of it.
Very readable, the text is supported by large surveys (US and international), author’s team in-person interviews at University of Texas, publications of evolutionary psychologists and gender relations specialists… all referenced in a lengthy, but helpful, bibliography.
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