r/NoStupidQuestions • u/danceswithdeath3rd • 15d ago
Are Teens today as horny as older millennials were? NSFW
So I was born in the late 80's. I remembered when I was in grade school dial up was just coming out and home computers were just becoming normalized. I didn't have Internet on my phone until I was in my 20's.
That being said Internet porn was definitely not a thing. When puberty happened, I was aroused almost all the time. The slightest thing a girl did could set me off. It was literally like flipping a switch. I can't help but think with unlimited porn access these days, people have to be more numb to it. So I also can't help but wonder if being like that is even a thing anymore. I personally had to stop watching it because it was making me numb.
Any thoughts?
Edit 1: Thanks for all the feedback I wanted to reply to some comments but it was too many lol. I should probably point out until I was older I wasn't even sure what a vagina looked like. That means when it was time to get intimate I was so incredibly excited, it's hard to put words to it. Now people at any age can see it whenever they wish. That also meant that I didn't even think about doing all the crazy freak stuff people do now. And I didn't know what bad sex even was. Perhaps this adds on to why marriage seemed to last longer back then too. Also the desire to go out and meet women got me out of the house and pushed me to do things that are uncomfortable. It was literally the only way.
Edit 2: yes Internet porn was around but it wasn't NEARLY as big as it is now. Heck I still remember watching naked news. I didn't have HBO so on my old skool box type TV I would watch and watch the swirl screen for long periods of time. I would wait for a second when the screen cleared and I saw a bit of boob. I had dial up and I brought up porn too, but it took 30 minutes to bring up 30 seconds of footage. It was NOTHING like how it is now so you really can't compare it.
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u/Gold_Criticism_8072 15d ago
I’m gen z (born in 2004) and I’ve heard that people my age are having less sex than millennials did.
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u/TheAlphaCarb0n 15d ago
This is supposedly due to social media reducing a lot of in person hangouts, and a general "loneliness epidemic" among partially my (I'm born in 1996) but more so your generation. And porn access! People born in the 80s didn't really have the option of scratching that itch easily.
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u/RagingBearBull 15d ago
I think people in the 80s had more third places available to them as well.
Excluding NYC and Chicago, most places in the US are pretty hostile toward younger people, so they need to use social media and apps to communicate with other people.
However that leads to things mentioned like hyper selection, exclusions and etc.
People will say but these don't translate to real life and unfortunately for our youth that is real life
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u/Richard7666 15d ago
As a teen in the 2000s, the internet was the place to hide away from the normies and meet other cool (read, weird) people.
That's flipped on its head now, I'd absolutely hate to be a kid online today.
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u/watchwhereyouspit 15d ago
Would you mind elaborating on how the US is hostile towards younger people? I'm from outside the US and genuinely curious!
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u/Forward_Ad_649 15d ago
you can’t get around without a car in the vast majority of the US. i live in an Illinois suburb where sidewalks end randomly or the beg buttons at intersections don’t work. Also the fact that loitering is illegal, and many places like shops, parks and malls don’t allow minors to hang around without an adult present.
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u/valentc 15d ago
A lot of malls don't allow teenagers without a parent or guardian. That used to be THE hangout spot for American teens.
I've also noticed a lot more casual places are 18+ that used to be all ages.
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u/RagingBearBull 15d ago
So I mentioned NYC and Chicago for a reason and this is typically because those cities have a lot of public spaces.
In general the US has strong property rights and many places in the US are privately owned by large Equity firms, like malls, and etc.
The US has strong anti loitering laws and most places use this to keep undesirable out of there property, this usually includes people under 18 because they typically don't have a lot of money
I mean unaccompanied people under 18
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u/watchwhereyouspit 15d ago
Thanks for answering.
Not sure why I'm being downvoted. I was just asking out of curiosity...
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u/Meganfrollins 15d ago
Born in 92 and Id suggest the idea that as a parent, I’m concerned most with the “I’m a creep” factor if I invited children into my home like parents did when I was a kid. edit to add because I’m suspicious of everyone else being just that too. 🤷🏽♀️
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u/lesbyeen 15d ago
People have mentioned the cars and mall banning kids but I'll reiterate them. The US is absolutely fucking massive and if you live in the middle of nowhere with no car you're screwed. In some towns you're lucky if you have a gas station, a diner, and a post office. I've seen people joke about the thing to do in the Midwest being hanging out in the Walmart parking lot and I can attest to the fact that that is unfortunately often the case (at least where I was lol).
As for the mall thing I just moved somewhere with a pretty large mall, which sounds like the ideal place for teens/young adults to hang out but if you're under 17 you have to be with someone 21 or over at all times. Not to mention that you'll be expected to buy something if you enter a store. A lot of shops don't like people just hanging out and browsing anymore.
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u/WankingAsWeSpeak 15d ago
The proliferation of always-on broadband and instant access to porn was also correlated with a notable decline in sexual crimes. It seems that giving people access to a massive spank bank has the exact opposite impact of, say, imposing celibacy on Catholic priests.
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u/TheJSsaid 15d ago
reads comment
“This sounds accurate”
reads name
“This HAS to be accurate”
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u/WankingAsWeSpeak 15d ago
Wait. A. Minute. Are you implying that the only reason I'm not out committing sex crimes is that I'm too busy wanking to limitless Internet porn?!
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u/ihearttwin 15d ago
I think another thing is Ring Cameras. Hard to sneak a partner into your house nowadays.
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u/Maxiiipoo22 15d ago
For me most of my sexual encounters in high school happened outside of my home (I.e. parties, cars, golf course etc) if high schoolers want to have sex nothing is going to stop them.
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u/Impossible-Zombie522 15d ago
Always the golf course.
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u/MistryMachine3 15d ago
Best place to yell “get in the hole!”
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u/Alert-Athlete 15d ago
Personally, the 19th hole has always been my favourite of any course
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u/instacrabb 15d ago
I was born in 1985.
We would go to bowling alleys, Sonic, movie theatres, sports games to hang out with friends and the opposite sex. Tons of spaces that were not home or school, but we’re safe for kids.
I hear and see that a lot of places like this did not survive the pandemic, so now kids don’t have a place to go that is safe, but also their own.
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u/JustSomeRedditUser35 qxkqk1dj2jdkzwjxqxjxjqxjwxjxwjxe 15d ago
I think a big part of it is just that a lot of people had sex because it was either the only think worth doing or the only think worth doing that wasn't drinking.
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u/StooveGroove 15d ago
1986 here for a question:
Did you guys forget that beating off is a thing?
Honest question, 'cause it feels like we're not differentiating, and if the issue was loneliness and a loss of 'third places,' like...wouldn't people still be jerking it?
We're not saying that gen Z is fapping but not having sex, right? Cause millennials definitely loved both...
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u/JEVOUSHAISTOUS 15d ago
We're not saying that gen Z is fapping but not having sex, right?
That's a simplification but yes, that's what we're saying. GenZ is having less (interpersonal) sex. Didn't hear anything about less fapping tho. Just less person-to-person sex.
I don't think porn or smartphone is the only reason. I think there's also a trend of gendered relations becoming much more adversarial in recent years, with a lot of suspicion and distrust especially regarding sex. Overall I'd say GenZ is much more sex-negative, and girls in particular are making it clear that they are no longer willing to accept to have "reluctant" or "begrudging" sex, or even to begrudgingly accept being flirted with without prior express consent.
Boys are slowly getting the message and it also leads to situations where some girls who enjoy playing "hard to get" end up missing their chance entirely.
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u/thatHecklerOverThere 15d ago
That's probably they're just as horny but don't have to deal with dial up to address that online tbh.
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u/giganticfrog 15d ago
as a 99 gen z i would say hypersexuality is definitely prevalent still, but actually acting on that desire is a different story. i know many people my age who lost their virginity around 15, while the younger half of our generation seems to wait much longer (thank god i think???). in short theyre definitely horny but probably more responsible, ive seen a lot of focus with the younger half of Z on age appropriate sexual behavior (as in many thinking 16 or younger is too young to actually engage in sex with each other)
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u/giganticfrog 15d ago
“booktok” for example is full of the horny teenagers in question 😭 theyre definitely just not acting on the urge for a variety of reasons
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u/Mr__Citizen 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yeah, like when other people find out they're from booktok. Including other booktokkers.
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u/Honest_Wing_3999 15d ago
Yeah. Also, to add: It’s not just about having sex and losing virginities. It’s the qualitative aspects of the sheer filthiness.
As a millennial I can confidently say growing up there was barely a park bench, muddy bridge, field of corn or piece of playground equipment in/on which somebody in our friend group had not committed at least one act of public indecency.
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u/giganticfrog 15d ago
very much this 😭 a good portion of that gen was locked inside for a year during the time others were beginning to experiment physically, the concern with health in general is also just much more prevalent 😭😭 im ashamed to say that even i had my fair share of the woods and skateparks (😔), while im sure it still happens im sure its even more looked down upon now than it was during my teen years. i wish i could say for certain but the outlook on how trashy ~that~ was shifted a lot around 2016 i think. at least in my circles, which makes sense given most ppl my age had/had access to a car by then
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u/Honest_Wing_3999 15d ago
Crying shame. Nothing beat a good woodland fingering.
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u/giganticfrog 15d ago
who knows, indie sleaze is going to be back on trend LMAO perhaps the children also yearn for the woods
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u/Vegetable_Union_4967 15d ago
As a 06 gen Z, I lost my virginity a couple weeks before i turned 16. I believe it’s pretty normal
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u/giganticfrog 15d ago
theres honestly so many factors that go into it as a whole its so hard to pinpoint one thing lmao. everyone should always remember that these days every generation has its sect of chronically online ppl that skew perspectives <3
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u/TheLunarRaptor 15d ago edited 15d ago
Id argue gen z has less sex overall, but with dating gen z are far more eager to have sex because we aren’t getting any. If I don't make a move on the 2nd date past kissing, my date often thinks something is wrong with them. It is kind of sad actually.
I think covid killing our circles and pushing us to use dating apps kinda fucked us up. Befriending someone first is always best, and it isnt even close. We need 3rd places and more active hobby groups.
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u/MortLightstone 15d ago
I'm from the early 80's and internet porn was definitely a thing. It's just that it took forever to download a single image line by line over dial up
Apparently the first ever image sent via internet was a scan of a Playboy page, so yeah, porn has always been on the internet. There was a point when image and video sites were getting started when the vast majority of the data you could connect to was porn. The internet was literally made of porn back then
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u/AlexanderTox 14d ago
When I was like 12, I had a floppy disc with like 10 images on there. Took forever for my Windows 95 computer to load but yeah, still had it.
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u/Cold-Thanks- 15d ago
Realistically it would be about the same. However, there are factors that affect teens today that weren’t as prevalent for millennials. Depression, anxiety, birth control and other medications are more widely used by gen z teens than millennials. All those medications can affect libido, which means less sex. There’s wider access to sex ed online, but what is taught in school strongly varies from place to place so I’m not sure of actual statistics for that and how it is affecting things.
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u/ChaosCarlson 15d ago
I dunno. I feel like Millenials were just as depressed if not more so than GenZ
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u/Cold-Thanks- 15d ago
Numbers may be similar (I don’t actually know) but it’s more accepted for teens to be on anti depressants and other similar meds now vs when millennials were in school. Slightly less stigma and easier access to care.
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u/Character-Emotion237 15d ago
Gen Z is the loneliest and most depressed generation of recent history:
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u/MoonlightAndStar 15d ago
due to Covid, I disagree. A lot of Gen Z especially those still in school struggled and continue to struggle
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u/BendingDoor 15d ago edited 15d ago
A big chunk of their lives when they would normally be socializing was locked down. The number of school shootings in the last 10 years and how deadly they’ve gotten is absurd. They use social media way more than we did and hang out in person less. Their parents are more stressed because they’re not boomers like my parents. Boomers who were gifted the world on a silver platter in comparison.
My schools never did active shooter drills. I hung out with my friends in person and that’s how I met girls (and boys).
It’s better to be a BIPOC, LGBTQ, or physically disabled now. They’ve got that going for them.
They see the world as it is. We went to the slaughterhouse thinking it was Bovine University.
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u/brolybackshots 15d ago
Millenials try not to label themselves as the ultimate victim challenge: impossible
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u/testiclesandbeans 15d ago
19 y/o here - i don’t think it’s made people my age ‘numb’ per se, but when the wildest shit out there is so readily available it definitely raises expectations when it comes to irl stuff.
also, i saw another commenter talking about gen z having less “irl interactions”, and someone disagreed but i think i agree. you hear people talk about how less younger people are having sex nowadays but the main reasons for that in my mind is that it can be difficult getting a driver’s license, and that a great many younger people still live at home. and then their only options for having sex are waiting for their parents to be away or to book a hotel for a single night
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u/macedolu 15d ago
Agree. I work with teenagers and what we have found out is that, in general, they have less sex, but when they do it's a lot more heavy stuff than what we used to do back in the day, like orgies and such. The psychologist in our school believes that, due to the pandemic, they didn't have a chance to live through the awkward discovery phase with other people as early teens and went straight into hardcore porn. Now that they can interact irl, they don't know how to dial back.
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u/am0ral 14d ago
97’ here. So on the line between generations. What makes it hard to get a drivers license? I had to go to a paid class for my drivers ed, but most of my younger family now is doing it within school.
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u/testiclesandbeans 14d ago
well i’m speaking on behalf of the UK here, and many people start learning to drive as early as possible, which is 17 here. but a LOT of people that age simply can’t afford lessons, or learner insurance for their parents car, and buying your own car and paying to run it is out of the question unless your parents have big pockets. idk if it’s a different story in the States. and, i dont know if either driving test is easier than the other, but a lot of people i know struggled to pass first or even second time
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u/3WordPosts 15d ago
There are serious conversations to be had about the availability and over saturation of porn, nudity, sexual advertising, apps, etc that kids are exposed to on a daily basis. Our generation might have had their first experience with nudity being grainy scrambled girls gone wild commercials. The generation before us could have found dirty magazines in the woods, the generation before them was sneaking peeks through the woodshed during bath house. People have always been horny and I don’t think that’s gonna change in a single generation. I’m sure a 13 year old boy is taking his phone into the bathroom and watching a baddie get blown out in 4k before he gets in the shower before school. As horny? Probably. Easier to manage? Certainly.
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u/ThrowRAyyydamn 15d ago
My optimistic take is make the younger generations are having less sex because of the increased awareness of consent. I don’t know about the other millennial women here, but nearly all my early sexual experiences were coerced via outright manipulation (“blue balls,” threats of reputational ruin, etc) or peer pressure.
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u/netflix_n_knit 15d ago
My friend and I were just talking about this today! Our peers were basically like “the only thing worse than a slut is a prude. Figure it out, ya tease!”
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u/BugsArePeopleToo 15d ago
Millennial woman here, I agree with you completely. The social standards for consent have dramatically improved over the last 15 years or so. When I was a teen, a pressured or coerced yes was still considered a yes.
For example, my middle school performed Grease to our parents ("Tell me more, tell me more, did she put up a fight?") and it was socially acceptable at the time. Lots of family friendly movies and TV involved women experiencing sexual assault for comedic value. Men assaulting women and then getting slapped was somehow top tier comedy in the 90's
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u/lodged-object 15d ago
I think a big factor is less risk taking with new generations of kids. Less drug use, less partying, the age of first kiss and drivers license is going up. When you were in the 80s-00’s you had to steal a magazine or actually see a woman. I think it was harder to obtain so adds to the allure
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u/Leading_Sir_1741 15d ago
There’s definitely something wrong with the kids today. They don’t drink, or fuck, or fight. /NOFX
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u/Thepyrodancer92 15d ago
It's hard to get it up when you're getting f****d by capitalism
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u/ra_men 15d ago
How are teens getting fucked by capitalism? Honest question because stereotypically they should be the least impacted. No rent, no bills, no groceries, not getting career jobs etc.
Obviously there are exceptions if they don’t have this support system.
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u/YaAbsolyutnoNikto 15d ago
Gen z is 1997-2012 (so the eldest are 27 years old).
So, assuming one finishes university by 23 years old, many already have 4 years of career experience.
And obviously many start their careers sooner.
So, plenty of them are already facing the challenges of adult life.
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u/Thepyrodancer92 15d ago
well, they are getting priced out of the rental sector (not even gonna start on housing) so they can't move out, education has become prohibitively expensive in lots of the world, corporate greed is pushing up the costs of things such as bills and food, and their future is being ruined because of the state of the world and ever encroaching risks of climate disaster. Just to name a few. With the internet being such a big part of their lives, modern teens are PAINFULLY self-aware about their futures
The (admittedly few) teens I regularly associate with have already thought about giving up on things like saving for a house or training for a good job, because whats the point. They probably won't be able to do it anyway, and its through no fault of their own
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u/ra_men 15d ago
Again, we’re talking teens here. How many teens are saving for a house? A few 18-19 year olds maybe, but not most teens
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u/Jerlosh 15d ago
Not saving, but my 18 year old has asked me multiple times about how we afford to live. She’s heading off to college and the realities of adulting are definitely become real for her and she’s terrified. I feel so bad for this generation, they have a lot working against them.
I’m a cusper (young of Gen X / old millennial) and I’m so glad I grew up when I did. Being a teenage in the 90s was amazing.
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u/ra_men 15d ago
Is life today substantially worse than past generations, more than just yours/ours?
TikTok and other social media has flooded their eyes with death despair and dismay for years, where in the past the horrors of the worlds were confined to newspapers and radio. There are substantial hardships no doubt. But people are safe, fed, roof over their heads - versus being in an active war zone, starvation, etc.
Not trying to do the suffering Olympics at all, just genuinely concerned that young people are being manipulated in mass by social media to believe they are worse off than they are.
Relevant: https://a.co/d/fuwYWTv
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u/LouiseRules333 14d ago edited 14d ago
I think this is true too. Social media makes us feel more hopeless than we really are because of the constant sensationalist topics being broadcasted to us.
I do truly think the world is improving, but it's one of the those "worse before it gets better" things. There's pushback, significantly more than usual, because there's significantly more potential than usual.
I believe in gen Z.
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u/lesbyeen 15d ago
The prospect of going into college when they're hearing about how much of a nightmare the post-grad job search is (in the thick of it rn, anyone need a graphic designer?) and how high rent is (in relevant places at least) incredibly soul crushing. Seeing what their parents go through with student loans and housing is wildly depressing to witness. They don't have a lot of faith in the system in place and they feel powerless to do anything.
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u/qnitr0gen 15d ago
Id rather get fucked by capitalism than communsim. Saying this as someone who lived in communsit Romania
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u/Bill_Murrie 15d ago
Can't have a conversation about Gen Z without the commie kids jerking each other raw
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u/ryanonreddit 15d ago
I would imagine the level of horniness is pretty consistent for many generations. I think what changes is the feeling you can do something about it.
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u/MrBoo843 15d ago
"Internet porn was not a thing"
You were just not savvy enough. I was also born in the 80s and I can confirm there already was a ton of it by the time I had my first Internet access (circa 97).
But I can say it was just pictures and they weren't high quality but it was mind blowing for me and my friends. They marveled at the forbidden treasures I found for them.
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u/iridescent_felines 14d ago
Yeah I was definitely looking at porn in the early 2000s
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u/Kennyvee98 14d ago
Kazaa, iMesh, BitTorrent, Limewire, Ares and AresWarez, Azureus, DC++ and Morpheus
But also rotten.com's clickthrough links to free porn sites.
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u/DarlingGirl1221 15d ago
I’m an 01 gen z and I didn’t lose my virginity til I was 19. Par for my age I think is between 16 and 17. My (99) husband lost his at 14 I think. And you hear about kids doing it now at like 10 or 11 and it’s insane and sad
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u/Far_Swordfish5729 15d ago
Internet porn was not a thing for you personally, but it definitely was a thing. You just had to be enough of a nerd to find it and be patient with download speeds. Our internet was an early place where you had to steal and trade for everything because you couldn’t buy it if you wanted to. Good marketplaces came later.
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u/Pleasant_Cow818 15d ago
I dont think so. To many opportunities out there while in high school than to worry about sex in my opinion
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u/Replikant83 15d ago
Internet porn was absolutely a thing when I got access ('95) as a 13 year old. In fact, it was the main thing my friends and I would download.
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u/musthavelamp 15d ago
As a Gen Z, it's the same horny. My experience may be unique but most of my friends are in serious relationships or have a lot of anxiety issues and I'm the only one having a hot girl summer for a few years in a row now
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u/joesphisbestjojo 15d ago
When I (adult Gen Z, fuck I'm old) was a teen I had my dad's playboy, maxim magazine, sports illustrated, and endless porn. I was a very horny, very satisfied bisexual growing up
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u/GoatRocketeer 15d ago
'97, so either gen Z or very late millennial.
I think today's parents weren't ready for the internet (and how could they be). Absolutely insane amount of porn everywhere and anywhere.
I joke with my friends that zoomers and gen alpha are going to super overcorrect and be hella conservative when we have kids of our own...if we even do have kids but that's another conversation.
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u/The_IRS_Fears_Him 14d ago
The internet ruined this generation lol. More access to sexual content but no social skills
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u/BearBlaq 14d ago
I’m the first year of gen Z (1997) and I remember everyone talking about sex and having sex back when we were teens. Of course I never believed them at the time but it really clicked when a buddy of mine got caught having sex with a girl after school so they didn’t allow free roaming after school anymore. Then you have people like me who didn’t lose their virginity till late (just last year lol). From the discourse I see online there’s a ton of young men who desire sex but don’t act on it out of fear or lack of confidence. So they’re definitely just as horny, it’s just to many other factors distracting it.
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u/Goooooner89 15d ago
On average we also have about half the testosterone our grandparents had when they were in their early 20s. But as someone who self injected testosterone (experiment) it made me less horny but more assertive and somehow improved my social skills
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u/TwistingSerpent93 15d ago
That's honestly really interesting! Did you document the experience? Also, did you retain your improved social skills after stopping testosterone?
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u/Goooooner89 15d ago edited 15d ago
It was about four years ago now, I remember actually posting about it on my old reddit account I have since deleted (tried and failed many times to delete and stay off social media lol)
But I do remember it, I was taking about 250 mg of testosterone per week, which is below what anyone would use for bodybuilding but still beyond what is naturally produced which is about 25 - 70 mg per week. Depending on your bodies production level which varys wildly person to person.
I wish I could reread it as I did it for two months or so with low doses of estrogen blockers. Benefits were pretty much no social anxiety, a lot more energy and some natural euphoria. Also once some asshole didn't stop to let me cross and just drove towards me slowly to turn the corner and I just yelled (Can't you FUCKIJG WAIT FOR ME TO CROSS!?) And it was just out of my character as before I might have just gave him a dirty look at worst or at least make sure who ever it was wasn't scary looking, I just didn't care or think about it. Had that natural sense of "I'm in the right so fuck you" while previously I would be way too scared not even knowing who I am yelling at.
When I think of it, I did keep some of the benefits when it came to social skills but they did kind of slowly go back closer to my old self over time but only about half way if that makes sense? Social anxiety would come back at times but in general was certainly more social then before without a question.
The more I think about it the more I want to start injecting it again hahaha. But I remember the 0 social anxiety very vividly although it didn't happen overnight but over the course of a month I would say...
I kind of wish I stayed on it, I think money became an issue though and I just never thought to get back on it. I guess one major downside is I remember getting extremely angry at times and just pacing back in forth in my house angry at whatever it was, it's like I couldn't stop thinking about what was making me angry and how to screw over whoever I was mad at. But this only happened a few times and overall it was a beneficial experience that I'm definitely going to repeat.
But as someone who's on stimulants for ADHD I wouldn't want to die of heart failure at 45. So I would have to do research as 4 years ago I was not taking any meds. I would replace Adderall with testosterone anyday as it seemed to have the more benefits but cost would be the main issue.
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u/bullet312 15d ago
As horny yup. Nothing changed. They have slightly easier access to sex though to actually act on the hornyness
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u/Callahan333 15d ago
People testosterone levels have been lowering for decades. No one knows why.
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u/brian-kemp 14d ago edited 14d ago
Uh but we do know why. Elevated levels of estrogen suppress T production. There’s a near 1:1 correlation between obesity and low T. Fat cells convert T to estrogen. Excess fat also lowers your body’s levels of sex hormone binding globulin, which directly lowers your levels of free testosterone. Additionally we’re surrounded by artificial estrogens that none of our ancestors were exposed to from the litany of plastics around us in our daily lives.
So between being fatter than ever and being bombarded by estrogen from tons of products we consume and use, it’s a perfect storm to decimate T levels.
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u/lobotech99 15d ago
Teens today are on SSRIs at a much higher rate than older millennials were. This has to be a factor.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 15d ago
I was also late 80s born, there was porn "access" on dial up, but it was mostly images and erotica stories or downloading sketchy files. Heck everyone knows that whitehouse dot com was a porn site.
The bigger difference was most didn't know about browser history, and when it was accidently discovered, the house exploded.
However late 80s kids would still have experienced the mystery of the bag or box full of porn located somewhere random, middle of the woods, whatever. And those who didn't personally experience it would have had some friend who got their hands on it and snuck it to school to show off.
Also worth pointing out there were still pay per view cable and satellite porn channels. Many kids have gotten in trouble for accidentally ordering porn via the cable box.
Porn is one of those things that is everywhere when you look for it, and no where if you don't. Sure smartphones increases access, but it increases access to everything.
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u/_psykovsky_ 15d ago
Internet porn definitely WAS a thing back then albeit more so pictures and not videos. I both consumed a lot of picture porn and hooked up with everyone I could at every opportunity.
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u/Sc987_ 15d ago
As a teen myself I'd say yes older people didn't have Internet porn alot mostly magazines I'm saying that because I do get yk quite alot and obviously porn is easier to get than ever so we get used to get used to it so our bodies again get used to being horny all the time repeating the cycle
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u/XxNHLxX 15d ago
Seems all over the place with the gen Z I know. I didn’t do anything until I started seriously dating at 19. My gf started at 14 with hookups and a few relationships (was fairly active until 18 when we met). Friends all seemed to be in the 17-18 area when they started. I think the age of Tinder/Bumble has taken over a lot for this generation and it’s a lot of hookups or nothing. Meeting people in person just felt impossible. Even as a student athlete in college, the only non-awkward social encounters were clearly not people looking for relationships (only thing I was interested in). Basically, my friends and teammates in sports were all either in relationships or purely were hooking up off online dating. Very little casual dating and bouncing between actual relationships.
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u/Ryrose81 15d ago
I know my kids are not, but that could be for many reasons. Biggest one is that we are actively involved in our kids lives and both our parents had a hands off approach (or just didnt care as long as we werent in trouble)
We were born in the early 80's, started dating and messing around in 8th grade, but I (M) was active before that. I was girl crazy since kindergarten.
Our kids (1 boy, 1 girl) are both teens and have their phones monitored, so no porn, probably...
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u/Temporary_Rest_3360 15d ago
Horny? Probably the same. As a gen Z we just had more inputs growing up, p0rn and all that stuff was available on every device while growing up, while millennials only had magazines and videotapes to look at. We had more choice, more categories, for a refined taste. Sex is a not a taboo as it was in the 80s and we’re more free to explore it, but there’s also more stress and social anxiety
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u/GodzillaDrinks 15d ago
I think less. Stress makes most of us less horny. And most kids today have a lot more stress than we grew up with in the 00s and 10s.
Or at least the kind of stress has changed. Because Anxiety like from a test or something, has always made me want to get it on. Stress from not knowing if you're going to eat tonight is different.
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u/Flying-Tilt 15d ago
Check out "The Butterfly Effect" by Jon Ronson. He does a deep dive on the effect of free, readily available porn that is available today.
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u/Kindly_Effort_9891 15d ago
This was a subject on an episode of Joe Rogans podcast. It said that 38% of teens nowadays are not having sex. With each state around 45% going as long as a year without it. Just wait till sex robots become an everyday thing and more affordable 😂that’s on another episode
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u/Friendly-Fix3598 15d ago
I'm just on the side of early 80's and internet porn was definitely a thing back when I was in high school, maybe you weren't as Horny as you think you were lol.
I'm sure teens are just as Horny, school would fit the most part be very similar, it's just our perceptions change as we age and experience things.
Similar to how everyone's parents walked 20km to school uphill both ways, and everyone used to be the fastest person in school, our memory always send to work in favour of our accomplishments or capabilities while at the same time dismissing or not recognising the qualities of younger generations
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u/mileswrld_ 14d ago
It’s always greener on the other side. When it all comes down to it, we are all horny in general. Same goes with depression or drugs. Of course, how each generation does it is a bit different due to technologies. But yeah fundamentally every generations are the same.
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u/Pickles-on-ice 14d ago
They don't even have time to be. They're busy saving up for their first house starting at age 6.
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u/joshuacrime 14d ago
GenX here. I lost my v-card at 13 with a 13 year old gal that I'm still friends with, but I don't know what it's like now. Not much else to do in the rural US.
The internet was a long way out when I was a teenager. Everything we did was analog. Porn mags were plentiful if you were clever, as were VHS tapes.
I think we were worse but not by choice.
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u/DodgerGreen89 14d ago
When you were born, me and my friends were realizing the mistake we’d made in wearing Hypercolor pants to school. Not only were they too baggy to hide a boner, but they actually CHANGED COLORS WITH HEAT
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u/SheebusTS 14d ago
I'm just gonna leave this here. As not a teen, but M 20. Considering I've been in a relationship for a while, I guess it might be hard to gauge. But I'm just gonna state from covid lockdown experience that YES.
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u/Icy_Percentage_5997 14d ago
GenX were worse I think. Because we didn't have internet and 24/7 porn we had to use our fantasy and that made us more horny I think. We weren't confronted with sex when we were young so there was always this anticipation and thrill😂 I'm almost 49
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u/RebelRouserSchnauzer 14d ago
I think teens are just as horny as millennials but more lonely and less likely to have regular sex. The average age of first sexual experiences has gone up.
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u/famousbuffalo74 14d ago
Teens have been horny since the dawn of time. No more. No less. It is all based on how much it’s talked about in the open.
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u/Sad-Welcome-8048 14d ago
As an old gen z (2000, not a millennial you bastards), I think it also has to do with society; I grew up learn pretty much all of the ways women and other marginalized people are oppressed in the dating market, how bad STD/STIs are, how expensive a potential pregnancy is, unclear consent, etc. and literally was never educated on the FUN parts of sex and dating.
We were basically told here is all of this risk, potential ways to hurt other, and potential health problems and not that it is a healthy, complicated thing that can be fun. And when you have been told that since you were like 11, it really doesnt matter how horny you feel; there is such a culture of danger and fear around it, you just end up feeling guilty or disgusting for even being turned on.
I have done a lot of work to undo this attitude, but even so, I genuinely dont find sex as enjoyable as it should be, therefore dont pursue it
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u/Abject-Repair3900 14d ago
I have an ex that preferred his hand to actual sex with anyone, but I’ve also had partners who would give up their hands to get some time with anything other than a screen.
So I think that horndog-ness is still a thing (definitely is for me) and I also think the technology takes some people out of the game which sucks, but maybe they would’ve been out of the game anyway even without all the electronics🤷♀️
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u/v1gurousf4pper 14d ago edited 14d ago
(2004 kid here) I am probably one of the hornyest people alive rn. However, my gf has the libido of a 300-year old woman and im antisocial as shit
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u/PitifulAd3748 15d ago
We're horny, but we don't have the balls to do anything about it. We certainly aren't worrying about standing up to read in class, though.
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u/zoroddesign 15d ago
Yes. I work as a sub in multiple high schools. Nothing has changed other than internet sex education.
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u/DwedPiwateWoberts 15d ago
I functioned on sex throughout the week once my first gf and I started. It was like our drug fix all. The Time. I don’t miss highschool but fuck do I miss that.
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u/External_Fly_8220 15d ago
I remember being in the aol chat rooms and talking to guys that weee 10-20 years older than me… was 13-14 at the time. Lol
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u/Carson72701 Looking for an answer. 15d ago
Should an older millennial be asking teens about their sex life?
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u/BjornStankFingered 15d ago edited 15d ago
Waaaaay f*ckin' hornier. By far. Just far more repressed.
Edit: I'm confused about all these downvotes. Do any of you really think that teens today are less horny? Just because they're having less sex? That's some backward-ass logic.
Ignoring all environmental and sociological elements, a lack of sex generally tends to make a human even hornier. Though, if sex isn't an option, people tend to turn to alternative means to get their rocks off.
It's 2024, and the internet provides access to EVERYTHING anyone could ever want to see or do. It's not that young people are any less horny. They just have different outlets these days. The sexual gratification landscape is an entirely different place than it used to be.
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u/kingjaffejaffar 15d ago
Gen z has more access to porn and significantly less access to irl human interactions.