Japanese statistics which suggest over a third of male youths and nearly two thirds of female youths have no interest in or an active dislike of sex have lately been exciting the concern of Japanese online.
The results of the latest governmental survey of Japanese attitudes to sex and marriage, undertaken every 5 years, reveal a society in which men and women are apparently increasingly alienated from one and other.
The survey found 61% of unmarried men aged 18-34 have no girlfriend, a 9.2% increase from 2005. For women, 50% had no boyfriend (suggesting they are tending to date older men).
45% of both sexes actually said they were not particularly interested in dating someone of the opposite sex.
A quarter of unmarried men and women in their late thirties also reported having had no sexual experiences at all.
However, despite all this, both sexes do apparently desire marriage – 86% of unmarried men and 89% of unmarried women report wanting to wed. Over 40% reported economic uncertainties as preventing their marriage.
A related survey of young people aged 16-19 found extraordinarily low levels of interest in sex amongst youngsters – 36% of boys reported having “no interest” in or “dislike” of sex, up 19% in only 3 years, and amongst girls it was up 12% to 59%.
A wide variety of interpretations of such findings have been proffered, although thus far nobody has actually attempted to do anything about the issue.
The increasingly destitute younger generations of men (who are more often than not expected to sustain a dedicated housewife whether or not children are involved) are thought to be deferring marriage and even dating for financial reasons.
More speculatively, there are some who consider their traditional masculinity to be increasingly in doubt, with the media having concocted such terms as “herbivorous men” to highlight the trend.
Women meanwhile face problems of their own – those in their late twenties and beyond are widely regarded as having poor marriage prospects, if any, and some do not even find the prospect of married life appealing in the first place.
It has also been frequently suggested that they tend to have unrealistic expectations as to the income and status of their desired husband, which when coupled with low incomes for young men and their own short shelf-life serves to drive marriage rates down further still.
As the actual numbers of Japanese besotted with such solitary pursuits as doll fancying and anime watching are insignificant, it is unlikely such pastimes have anything more than a tiny effect – although they do make inviting targets for media and political harangues.
2ch has some interesting alternative interpretations (focused exclusively on the issue of young people not having sex, for some reason):
“Virgin excuses.”
“Isn’t that when you most want it?”
“They should be at it like monkeys at that age. Japan is done for.”
“So let us have the women your age if you don’t want them. Make it legal already.”
“But aren’t the virginity rates of high schoolers still lower than ever?”
“Women are filthy inside and out, so it’s no surprise.”
“It’s a hassle dating people. Onanism is easy.”
“I heard they were all doing it at that age. I guess only the girls are getting any action then…”
“They arrest people for doing it with 16 and 17-year-olds, yet these idiots are saying we face a catastrophic decline in birth rates?”
“Even a plain girl looks enticing at 18. If you arrest everyone older who has sex with them it’s not really surprising you get ruined birth rates.”
“If you continuously hammer elementary schoolers and up with horror tales of abortions, STDs and AIDS, it’s obvious they will view sex with revulsion when they mature.”
“I think the real issue is that the ideal partners both men and women seek have been continuously getting more and more unrealistic as the years progress.”
“Banning sex from TV and putting mosaics on everything can’t have helped.”
“Now they can get uncensored porn off the Internet, so who needs the real thing.”
“I’ve done 3 girls as a 19-year-old student. But it’s such a hassle. You old guys can have my sex quota.”
“A lot of young people are overly fastidious when it comes to personal cleanliness. You should just dump those ideas and let nature take its course.”
“Having a shower before sex, another one after. It’s too much hassle.”
“Blame the Bubble generation. Watching your parents greedily cheating and whoring is anough to put anyone off sex.”
“It’s not about people not wanting sex. Everyone wants it. It’s that to get to have sex, the amount of effort and money required have become insane.”
“There are too many good eroge these days.”
“It’s all a lie, they are just embarrassed.”
“If you watch an AV you really wouldn’t want to do it.”
“What do you expect, if you arrest every guy who has sex with a girl.”
“If ero is bad and sex is viewed as wicked, as they increasingly seem to be, it’s no surprise you see lowered interest in them.”
“Onaholes feel too good. It feels better doing one of them whilst being embraced by a woman than it does actually doing the woman, seriously!”
“2D + onahole > 3D sex. Hurry up and make a machine so we can have sex with 2D girls.”
It’s funny to read this after 10 years.
Poor people D:! I could not live without having sex .. not like there are some who are still virgins at 30. But suppose that the relations between them are not very good because men have a world of anime, idols and much material for masturbation … what divides a lot of girls. I do not know really can do about it, to return to their more united society … but I know they are s♥♥t xD
I noticed something a while ago;People, no matter where in the world, seems to have forgotten one thing: the reason why Girl/Boyfriend,is called so. It seems that we have forgotten that the person is called ‘Friend’, whether it is a boy or a girl.
You could them partner too. But the bottom line is that you share a special bond with that person. It is a friend. Your actual friends are not people that you met last night, are they? How good are your relationships with such people? Well same applies to that person. You can sleep with many without knowing anything about them. It doesn’t matter. It is actually healthier than being with someone who gives you a fake image of purity because (s)he hangs around you mostly. At the end of the day, those who say “I won’t go for a one-night-stand; Who knows where they may have been before… ” don’t understand a thing.
Your ‘loyal’ partner could be doing just the same when you are not looking. The funny thing is, you might not even notice. Did it hurt you? Nope. But you will still need to get that fixed. Dialogue and tolerance are there for that very purpose. But these too require from you to be honest with yourself; What would YOU like?
I’ve seen many interesting guys and girls. Interesting conversationwise. Turned out later that they were into kinky stuffs that the wizards here only read in Hentais. And you would never know after an entire evening talking to them. Some of them are now friends of mine. I have NEVER slept with them. It may or may not happen but that is not the bond i share with them in the first place.
Even if the girl/guy is interesting, there is no telling whether you are going to like/be able to put up with how he behaves in general. even after a good convo. Sex is like playing soccer on sunday, in the openfield, it does feels really nice when it is with a team you know well, but it doesn’t mean it won’t feel nice with random people. In any case, after you scored, turn around and go home.
For those who never had sex, they are just making excuses because they don’t even know what turns them on. Saying that you ‘reserve’ yourself for the signficant one doesn’t mean anything if you are going to change that anytime in the future. And it won’t make it more amazing than when you do not think that way but still really love your partner. Everyone who goes to a theme park for the first get their minds blown. But they will really know why only when they go back. Sex is the same. Love is the same.
You guys are not special. Neither is sex. But it is something that is worth learning about to enjoy it. And learning without practice is for naught.
It’s ok! We shall be 40 year old virgins together!
Who in their right mind would want to start a family in Japan anyway? It’s the last place on earth you’d want to “enjoy” the extra hassle of having to care for even more problems. The Japanese are slowly digging their own graves with their repressive “social system”, or how i call it “hell on earth”.
Why do YOU think they have such a fucked up hentai/porn/red light industry in the first place? Because that the safest way to live out their fantasies. Real life is sucking every form of enjoyment out of them.
Marriages (out of true love) are in recess just as much as birth rates. Divorces/Unfaithfulness are commonplace.
As things are, they are fucked. What they need is social reforms as much as better working conditions with actual worker unions protecting the rights of the working people. Sure they earn a lot of money, but they literally have no time or drive to actually make a living that worth to live.