Dr. Baumeister’s argument is that “men will do whatever is required in order to obtain sex” – and that, historically, society has made them do quite a lot. To qualify as good marriage material, a young man used to have to show he could work hard, compete successfully, commit to family life, be a good provider and gain respect in the community. “The fact that men became useful members of society as a result of their efforts to obtain sex is not trivial,” he says.

But now, young men don’t have to do those things. Sex is readily available. According to Mark Regnerus, another expert on sexual economics, 30 per cent of young men’s sexual relationships today involve no romance at all – no hearts, no flowers, not even “Hey, what’s your name again?”

As he wrote in an essay on Slate: “Don’t forget your Freud: Civilization is built on blocked, redirected and channeled sexual impulse, because men will work for sex.” Which may help to explain why women outnumber men in university and so many guys in their 20s are in an arrested state of adolescence. University is hard. Work is hard. Being an adult is hard. And if what young men want most of all is sex, then why work hard if they don’t have to?
.
L’article au complet dans The Globe and Mail