Posted on 12/22/2014 8:22:56 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
There could be an unlikely contributor to the decline of marriage in this country. And it's free pornography on the Internet.
A team of researchers, who published their findings in The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany, determined that the rise of free Internet pornography is not only correlated with a pronounced decline in percentage of young adult males who are married, but might actually be contributing to the trend.
"The results in this paper suggest that such an association exists, and that it is potentially quite large," the study notes.
The researchers used data from the General Social Survey (GSS), a comprehensive, nationally representative survey, to analyze how 18-to-35 year-old men used the Internet between 2000 and 2004. They focused on how many hours each participant spent on the Internet per week, and how many reported having used the Internet to view pornography in the past 30 days, but also observed other activities, including the use of religious websites.
"We asked ourselves, what is helping determine whether people are married or not?" said Dr. Michael Malcolm, a professor at the University of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and one of the study's authors. "One of those things, we thought, could be the use of pornography."
~snip~
The reason, Malcolm explains, is likely tied to the relationship between marriage and sexual gratification. If pornography is viewed as a means of alternative sexual gratification, then it could be undercutting the need for marriages to serve this function, at the very least during a younger age. Think of it as a milder form of premarital sex.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
What planet are you living on? I know women who have had to spend their entire life savings and then live in poverty to defend against malicious custody suits brought by unscrupulous husbands and/or lawyers who knew she would do anything to keep her children from living at dad's house with the steady stream of loose women, drink/drugs and porn.
Which is very true (used to work as a bouncer way back when).
What I saw in the late 1990’s was that the same group of guys would come in and out with a lot of different women. The majority of guys would never leave with one. So for a given bar, you would have may five or ten guys who would be picking up women, and thirty to forty who would never be able to.
Great post, and I agree. In a more general sense, I think we’ve become progressively cynical and secular as a society, and thus the idea of finding your true love and being together forever has become for many a quaint concept not grounded in reality. Of course being ‘burned’ by someone contributes to that, but I think the reasons are deeper.
Especially the idea of sex on demand.
I just remember one time a guy told me “The ring is on my finger, not on my d-—.”
If I read you correctly, you are saying that today's female marriage aspirants do not intend to actually do household management and childcare if they have an "excuse to stay home"?
Laughable, huh?
Does it make you feel better that in 138 plus posts - NOBODY agrees with you?
What does your opinion say about you when no one else here thinks this is a “Ridiculous assertion”?
Some here are arguing that is is not that big a deal, some argue there are far more important issues that has left marriage in the dirt.
But you dismiss it entirely out of hand.
Perhaps you don’t believe porn is all that harmful. Perhaps you have some porn sites open now on your computer?
“When I went to my niece’s dance recital ten years ago, the three-year-old beginners were dressed. . . .”
I have many issues with Disney, but their “Princesses” are typically wonderful and demure, as are the costumes there are exceptions to this — Jasmine, for example).
It’s no surprise they’ve done so well commercially -— it’s hard to find normal, non-sexualized (e.g, Barbie, although we gave into that) toys for girls.
And who wouldn't want to marry you. In short, there is no substitute for marriage before sex. It's where the, well, I was going to say the "rubber meets the road", but you know what I mean. There is no substitute for real commitment; no atheists in foxholes... oh, wait... there I go again.
“Men are turning away from women because of the legal and emotional risk. You see a few buddies go down with various legal and financial hits, you stop looking”
BINGO!!!!!!!
Post of the thread. Every word is true.
“do not intend to actually do household management and childcare if they have an “excuse to stay home”?”
That is exactly what I am saying. It is one reason why so many marriages fail: The mothers really didn’t want children, they just used them to stay at home. So, when the kids become a handful, and children always do (I know, I’ve seen me do it!), the mothers fall apart and expect the dad to cover things when he gets home. He is overwhelmed and the arguments start, the marriage fails.
I have personally witnessed this countless times.
About 99% of porn has been made to appeal to men, specifically the type of man who would bore and offend most women within 5 minutes. Assuming that you are a female, your observation is beside the point.
Spot on.
It can be terrible for women, too; make no mistake. The one who cares the least wins the most. Who it is never terrible for is the lawyers.
In watching Mrs WBill's unmarried 30- and 40-something friends .... I'd concur. My opinion? Who would want to marry someone who would treat them like a doormat?
I'd also add that at face value, these women's lives are footloose, fancy-free, and a whole lot of fun. Trips to Europe on a whim, theater and shopping in NYC, a party-hearty lifestyle.
But, when you speak with them beyond some light dinner party chitchat, they're desperately unhappy, and want exactly what Mrs WBill has ... kids, (ahem) a good man, little house with a white picket fence, stability. They're trying to replace that emptiness with bigger and better parties, and failing miserably at it.
Mrs WBill and I do OK, but as anyone who's successfully been married can attest, marriage is a lot of sacrifice, and even more hard work. No trips to Europe. No fabulous dinners out - that disappeared with kids (now, we rate restaurants on whether or not "chicken tenders" are on the menu.....) A wild night this weekend was cookies and hot cocoa, a drive town around looking at local Christmas lights, and WBill Jr. in bed by 8:00. We had a ball, but it wasn't a 3-day bender in NYC.
Being married means saying "yes" to different things, and until these women decide to do that, they'll be bitterly unhappy.
That's my $0.02 psychoanalysis, anyway. Makes me very, very glad that I found a good woman. :-)
re your post 130, you’re doing everyone a service. However, your above understanding of what children need means you may find yourself willing to change for the right woman; so I wish you luck. You are your own person. There is no reason to let your brother’s example influence your self-image.
Sad. All I ever wanted was to be a stay-at-home mother to a large family, but God had other plans and I ended up in a high-pressure career with demanding clients. I was good at it and won many awards. When I finally did have a child I was technically old enough to be a grandmom, but to me, my life finally had meaning and purpose that all the career success had not provided. One day I was cutting a peanut butter sandwich into a star for the kid’s lunchbox and was just overwhelmed with joy and happiness!
guy I know who is 65 is upset he isn’t married, kind of upset, but he has a major issue with that.
Good lord the pissed off snarly women here.
You know something...its always been that way....going on 15 years
The nastiest posters....clown posse types...have always been girls and the little boy posters who try to be in their club
Merry Christmas honey.
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