Nicole McNichols

Well, there is a really interesting paradox because they are having less sex even though they feel more comfortable talking about sex and are more used to seeing sex in porn and the media.

um and in terms of this you know there's it's reflective of an overall sex recession that is true not just it is primarily being driven by gen z um who are having less sex than millennials were when they were in college and that then gen x when we were all in college but it's you know pronounced i think because

we're just at a place where it's the same reason so many people are feeling so lonely, right?

I think it's just social media and online dating, which have just had profound effects on how young people find partners and seek out and negotiate sexual experiences.

to feeling stressed out about finding a job, the stress that comes from academics, the stress from the financial situation, which means that many of them are trying to complete school while holding down two jobs.

It's just a tough time to be in your 20s in general.

And so the fact that their sex lives are struggling is kind of a natural extension of that, I think.

But again, it's just back to this fact that if you are, you know, thinking of sex as something that needs to look like what you see in a porn scene and has to include rough sex and choking, and if you're not measuring up, it's going to leave you feeling depleted and anxious.

Like, who wants that, right?

It's just feels like it's just so ripe for rejection and feeling substandard.

I think that porn is so much more nuanced and complicated than many people want to admit, right?

So of course there are porn activists that think all porn is great, that the whole fear of porn is way overhyped, but then there are also people who are on the anti-porn crusade who label it all as completely evil.

So I think that porn use in the right context

can be helpful to people's sex lives.

And what the data suggests is that it really comes down to motivation.

So if you are watching porn and the motivation is seeking pleasure, it's fun.

Just like masturbation, it's a form of self-care.

You are looking at something that is a fantasy that maybe is inspiration for something you'd actually want to try, or maybe it's just fun to think about.

And it's existing in your life in a way that's not taking away from your other sexual experiences.

It's not keeping you from getting to your job.