Record number of young American women not had sex in last 12 months, new study shows

A record number of young Americans have reported not having sex in 2021, in a phenomenon that has been described as a “sex recession”.

More females aged 18 to 35 than ever have reported not having sex in the prior year, according to new analysis by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS).

The share of under 35-year-old male and females going without sex grew from 2008 to 2021, from around 8 per cent to around 21 per cent.

The idea of a “sex drought” was coined a few years ago, but despite being the app-dating generation, young Americans said no to casual sex more than ever in 2021.

Experts who research the bedroom habits of Americans are pointing to people getting married older: sexlessness among the never married has increased by up to a half. Today’s young adults are just not that interested in hooking up.

"Much of the rise in sexlessness has been driven by people who have moral concerns about premarital sex,” the report IFS said. “It might be better to call it abstinence than sexlessness, since it’s consistent with expressed values.”

Among people under 35 who have never been married, opinions of premarital sex have been fairly stable over the last 15 years, with 70 per cent approving and 30 per cent disapproving of premarital sex.

“So, does religious behavior correlate with abstaining from sex? The answer is yes, the lion’s share of the increase in sexlessness has been among the relatively religiously devout,” the report explained.

Since 2008, among never-married individuals under age 35 who attend religious services more than monthly, the rate of sexlessness has risen from about 20 per cent to nearly 60 per cent in 2021.

Among their less religious peers, sexlessness has risen from around 10 per cent in 2008 to 20 per cent in 2021.

The IFS said the increase among religious young adults is likely related to them “complying with the norms of their communities more determinedly than previous generations”.

Religious young adults are thought to be more “scrupulous” in abstaining from premarital sex.

"Increasingly, religious young adults are “practicing what they preach,” the IFS said. “As a result, the growing diversity and polarisation that typifies so much of American life is reaching even further, even into bedrooms.”

Experts say the decline in youthful sex relates to birth cohort rather than a historical period. This means young adults are primarily avoiding intimacy because of what they were taught when they grew up, not because of the current prevailing attitudes towards sex.

So why have more accepting views on sex and dating not had the opposit effect?

"Given the prevalence of dating apps, you might expect an increase in casual sex," Lei Lei, an assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University, told US News. "But you have to look at other factors, too."

A reduction in drinking seems to be preventing casual sex, she explained, which was a factor for males too. Low income and unemployed men are also more likely to have no sex than those who had a higher income and jobs, according to experts.

The third reason is likely to be related to digital media reducing the desire for sex. With Netflix, social media sites and gaming providing instant gratification, sex could become an afterthought.

The report found that pornography use, while increasing, doesn’t appear to act as a substitute for sex.

“Although internet sites and social media should theoretically make it easier to find new sexual partners, time spent online has also displaced time once spent on face-to-face social interaction,” Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, said.

According to the IFS the “sex recession tells us something about modern life”. Young Americans have now “substituted” their desire for sex by livivng their lives increasingly online. They say the trend has “only gathered speed” amid the isolation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“What will happen when we emerge, perhaps blinking and unsteady on our feet, from our annus horribilis of isolation? Will there be an uptick in sex, or will we just have gotten out of the habit?”