Too Scared for Sex: The therapist Esther Perel has a theory about America’s eroticism shortage.

Submission statement: Opinion piece on why there is a sex recession

“Americans do seem more vigilant than playful these days. According to one 2025 poll from Marquette University Law School, 66 percent of 18-to-29-year olds and 60 percent of 30-to-44-year olds agreed that “most people can’t be trusted.” Rates of avoidant attachment style—the tendency to keep distant, essentially—have been rising. Political priorities have become dominated by a yearning for security: protection against financial instability, crime, replacement. And politicians are rushing to acknowledge (or exploit) those fears. These are not the conditions in which eroticism thrives.”

“Perhaps the “sex recession,” then, is merely a symptom of something bigger: an eroticism shortage, resulting from a great discomfort with uncertainty. If so, the stakes would be much higher than they were in 2006. It would mean that people aren’t just falling out of lust with their partner but struggling to connect, to feel deeply, and to be present for their own life.”