Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1195kb7/us_most_young_men_are_single_most_young_women_are/

Halfway down the thread someone mentions that this article is based on a self-reported pew research poll and not any kind of more in-depth study.

Also whoever wrote the article either didn’t understand the actual poll or just outright lied about what the data showed lmao

comment on this:

If you drill down into the actual source of the data, which is a Pew research poll, you find a specific definition of "single". It is not actually "are you [not] dating someone".

In these stats, "single" refers to people who "are not married, living with a partner or in a committed relationship".

The important part here: a committed relationship. This is self-reported by the people being polled.

If two people are in a relationship, one may answer "yes" to this and the other may answer "no", depending on whether they see it as a "committed" relationship.

Thus, there is an interesting explanation for at least part of the data - perhaps young men don't consider themselves "committed" as often.

Combined with the age distribution phenomenon, this likely covers pretty much all of the discrepancy in the stats.

Original Pew Poll: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/02/08/for-valentines-day-5-facts-about-single-americans/ft_2023-02-08_facts-single-americans_01/

Fashy bros love to avoid putting a label on things and then blame women for not being in a relationship lol

  • Awoo [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    If VR ever takes off that number will go up a lot more. From my investigations into VRChat it appears that the overall outcome of everyone slowly losing social anxiety and just being around people that completely accept you is that sexuality questioning goes through the roof and a hell of a lot more people are bi.

    • GaveUp [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Isn't that probably something like

      Queer people are more likely to be socially anxious because oppression/social shunning -> find refuge in online spaces like VRChat -> selection bias makes VRChat population much more queer than real life

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Potentially, but a bi person can go through life without confronting the bisexuality bit at all because it causes them absolutely zero social harm to suppress it. There is an absolutely massive abundance of bisexuality on the platform and I put it down to the atmosphere allowing a lot more guys to end up exploring it who otherwise would not have, especially when you break down some barriers because a bunch of guys just use femme avatars all the time.

        • Des [she/her, they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          my own theory is that in some kind of perfect cultural vacuum most people would probably be some kind of bi and it's interesting to hear some anecdotes supporting it.

          my personal anecdote: i'd be fully bi if not for sexual assault trauma but still biromantic. and early online spaces did allow me to explore my proto-transness in a time when there was like zero online community.

          • Awoo [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I would think that too if not for the reports of some people in vrchat saying that it did the opposite and just confirmed to them completely and totally how straight they are. It's an interesting situation.

            I don't know how much sexuality may or may not be socially created and environmentally affected. I personally think it might be environmental but that's kind of controversial given how many people have fought to have the argument that they were born like it. I think it should be accepted and non-prejudiced either way though, environmental or not.

            Personally I've seen my sexuality completely change in my lifetime so I can't really get on-board with the idea that it's genetic and immutable.