To think the young are less interested in sex, relationships and children

I think it's the other way round.

I see absolutely no sign that my 16yo ds is less interested in sex or relationships than my brother was at that age. 😁 All the youthful enthusiasm. He has (as yet) no desire to have children but plenty of time to change his mind.

On the other hand, I, as a single woman, see relationships as a risk. Certainly a physical & emotional risk. There are very few genuinely decent men around. As for children, financial reality takes its toll. I could only afford to raise one child on my own. To have a second child would have taken away my 'escape route' and potentially trapped me in an unhappy relationship. I'd seen too many friends in that situation to risk it.

I own our home, have maintained my career and I have a pension (of sorts). To marry would be too great a risk financially, and could jeopardise my and ds' home and future.

I've observed it too and quite frankly I can't say I blame them.

I think they’ve finally been taught that a nuclear way of life isn’t always beneficial for women.

My nieces are at Uni. It seems it’s a world away from my Uni life. They’re all vegan and go to the gym and eat well and only party occasionally. I’m pretty sure I lost half the use of my liver in my Uni days. On the one hand it’s not a bad thing they’re looking after themselves, on the other what a waste of those “throw caution to the wind” years

The under 25s I know are not really into having sex or even being coupled up. It’s very different and I think that marriage may become quite unusual in the future.

I think polyamory is quite common but I don’t judge. None of my business.

Just have to wonder who has time for multiple people? 🤣

They are definately less interested in sex you've only got to look at the decline in the numbers of teenage mothers in recent years to see that.

I guess it's because they don't go down the pub to meet people and have sex with.

I’m nearly 40 and I never saw relationships as life’s central joy. I opted to be boyfriend free until 26. I was having too much fun travelling and meeting new people.
I did always know I would meet someone to share life with and my first proper boyfriend at 26 is still my life partner.

Good luck to those who don’t feel the need to be in a relationship to be happy or complete!

There’s greater acceptance of different lifestyles and patterns nowadays. The “relationship escalator” of meeting ‘the one’, settling down, starting a family etc all within the earlier part of your adulthood is less relevant to many younger people. And when it comes to children, there’s been a huge swing in recent decades towards parenthood as something all-encompassing which requires 100% focus on the children: and from the outside, that looks and sounds fucking exhausting.

I think the huge boom in young people going away to university which began in the late 1990s has a lot to do with it: more young people are getting away from their families, their home towns, small-town ways of life; they look for careers after graduation, not just jobs; they develop friendships with all kinds of people from different backgrounds and places across the U.K. and the world, with different aspirations and values. They know they have options, and time.

I think it’s more a combination of burgeoning MH difficulties and lives lived increasingly online that means larger numbers of young people simply aren’t seeing one another in the flesh anywhere near as often. They’re timider because it’s a more socially acceptable option now.

On the one hand male misogyny is growing. Men want sex all right, the sex ‘industry’ was one of the few still growing last time I checked, especially if you throw in the increasingly sexualised music and media entertainment sectors. But they’re not prepared to give what comes with that, they just want to take. Violence against women and girls is growing. news.sky.com/story/violence-against-women-and-girls-is-getting-worse-as-efforts-to-help-victims-are-failing-watchdog-says-13299948
On the other hand, women are increasingly fed up with men, male entitlement, arrogance and violence, and the new ways men are finding to attack women (think drugs) is leading to less and less trust. Think of the 4b movements. Plus the cost of living is genuinely impacting both sexes and the ability to start families. It was much easier in the days when any single full time wage could support a family and buy housing. Easy analysis.

i was having sex at 17, and I was later than my friendship group and other girls I’d gone to school with.
DD didn’t have sex until she was around 25, but had no hang ups about it.