Image Magazine

Are you having the ‘right’ amount of sex?

Research shows there is a ‘sex recession’ right now, but what does that mean when society has us believe there’s a certain amount of sex we should be having? And what is the right ‘amount’ of sex to be having?

n a piece for the Atlantic in 2019, writer Kate Julian introduced a Western audience to the idea of a sex recession. It contradicted a number of things we’ve come to know; taboos have been lifted, but people aren’t talking about sex, hook up culture is rampant, but people aren’t engaging. Julian’s essay drew from a selection of recent academic papers, with two articles by psychologist Jean Twenge especially relevant. Twenge and her colleagues showed...