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When it comes to sex and relationships, the pandemic is creating a situation where people are either living in close proximity (possibly with partners, children or other family members) or are limited in their opportunities to find partners for prolonged periods of time. These circumstances can directly impact our intimacy.
A recent online survey found that a majority of participants in a sample of 1,559 adults reported a decline in the quality of their sex lives (43.5 percent) during the COVID-19 pandemic, while only a minority reported improvements (13.6 percent). Interestingly, however, despite people reporting a decrease in the frequency of sexual behaviours compared to the past year, one in five individuals (20.3 percent) added at least one new activity to their sex life, such as a new sexual position, incorporating pornography or engaging in cybersex. Compared to people who made no change, those who spiced things up were more likely to report improvements in their sex life since the beginning of the pandemic.
"As the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says: 'You are your safest sex partner.'"
Journal Reference:
Less Sex, but More Sexual Diversity: Changes in Sexual Behavior during the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic, Leisure Sciences (DOI: 10.1080/01490400.2020.1774016)
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday July 16 2020, @02:24PM (1 child)
I understand the mathematics. The headline and the quote about the species disappearing are misleading because they're based on looking at the declining birth rates in developed countries and then extrapolating those rates far into the future. The article also predicts a trebling in size of the population of sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the century, so I think the species is safe! They also admit that the low birth rates in developed countries are by choice. If the population density of the world greatly reduces, with the consequent reduction in competition over land, jobs and other resources, people may start to have more free time and choose to have more children again as well.
The current human world population is enormous and will likely be still growing massively for decades to come. at least. Our industry has polluted every corner of the Earth and the negative ecological impacts are accelerating. In that article it's incredibly disingenuous of them to try to mislead readers into doubting the environmental benefits of a lower birth rate. There are human benefits too, if only economies can be redesigned to handle a shrinking population. Everyone could live in luxury, with large, open spaces.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2020, @04:37PM
Just because something is by choice doesn't mean it will change, even if necessary. Obesity is purely by choice. It is literally impossible to become obese unless you consume sufficiently large number of calories. And nobody wants to become obese - it's a recipe for a short, miserable life - yet a skyrocketing number of Americans are choosing to let themselves become obese - because it's a whole heck of a lot easier and more pleasant than not becoming obese. Raising children is not easy and it does effectively require women to sacrifice any sort of a meaningful professional life. Baseline maintenance of a population requires each woman has more than 2 children, and that's in the prime of their lives while everything else is given a distant secondary interest. And then there comes the decade of raising them before they become even remotely self capable.
Creating a sustaining population is not just something you can switch on or off. And keep in mind again that this is not some effect that happens over hundreds of generations - we stand to go from everything to nothing in fewer than 10 generations.
Really puts all the environmental stuff in context. Environmentalism is fundamentally about humanity. The Earth will be fine regardless of its condition. And the animals on this Earth, hopefully besides humans, will also inevitably go extinct - sooner rather than later. It's happened multiple times in the past and it'll inevitably happen once again. Only thing that *might* save them is humanity, yet if humanity cannot even maintain its population then everything dies.