‘Cheap Sex’: mapping the new mating market

Regnerus raises a good point, but let’s not forget the flip side; with tax penalties and such in government, the presumption that domestic abuse is all the man’s fault (“Duluth Model”), the vagaries of family court, and the like, marriage is becoming seen as a lot more expensive then it used to be. When you’re trying to persuade someone to walk away from fornication or porn, that’s not helpful.

The downsides of marriage for men are many - a divorce is going to wipe them out financially, not to mention even possible threat of criminal charges for domestic abuse; even within Christianity, marriage is often just taught as “legalized sex”; the general diminishing of and acceptance for suitable roles for young men, etc.

Not to mention that men and women no longer often see it necessary. Why should a non-Christian man wait for marriage for sex with a woman when he can find another woman who doesn’t see the need to wait?

Don’t you feel like we have just gotten so much worse with communication that for so many people it is too much of an effort? Marriage is hard sometimes.