Hookup Culture, Not Monogamous Marriage, Kills Sexual Satisfaction
 
Hookup Culture, Not Monogamous Marriage, Kills Sexual Satisfaction
Written By Alyssa Sonnenburg   |   10.29.26

Disclaimer: This article discusses marital intimacy.

In a recent episode of Call Her Daddy, host Alex Cooper and actress Sophia Bush were discussing the benefits of divorce. They suggested that for women who are wondering if divorce is worth it and if they can find a better man, “the answer is always ‘yes’.”

This conversation alone is a window into the very real problem of the “sex recession” that America is facing.

A recent report from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) delved into the causes and antidotes to the current sex recession. In 1990, 55% of couples reported weekly intimacy and that number has significantly dropped to just 37% today.

Pop culture has, for decades, drummed into the hearts and minds of young people that the best guarantee of a satisfying sexual life is to be as promiscuous and loose as possible. And people have bought into this lie – men and women alike. After all, when the majority of women in America are listening to Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper, a “sex-positive” podcast that encourages all forms of degeneracy, we know we have issues.

With headlines like, “I thought motherhood had killed my sex drive, but I just needed a divorce,” what are young people supposed to think about marriage?

But what if the data proved differently? What if the data proved that the road to a satisfying intimate life is not hookup culture and constant divorce, but is in fact a monogamous marriage? More than that, it is a monogamous, religious marriage.

Dartmouth Economist David G. Blanchflower and Andrew J. Oswald found in their research that married couples live a more sexually satisfying life than single, divorced, widowed, or separated individuals.

In a September article published by The Atlantic, sociologist Brad Wilcox and colleague, Grant Bailey, found that while secular couples have not been immune to the sex recession in America, religious couple have been.

“In fact, we find that the only Americans who have avoided the country’s “sex recession”—in which fewer and fewer men and women are having regular sex—are husbands and wives who attend religious services at least twice a month. In the 1990s, 64 percent of married people aged 20–54, both churchgoing and secular, had sex at least once a week, according to the General Social Survey. Now only 48 percent of secular couples (who never or rarely attend church) have sex weekly compared with 62 percent of their religious peers. In America today, the faithful are having more sex.”

In addition to this, data from the General Social Survey has found a link between regular sexual activity among married couples and political ideology with liberals seeing a steep decline in sexual intimacy since the 1990s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Data time and time again reveals the timeless truth that God’s design for the family leads to the most satisfaction in every category – including sexual satisfaction.

Contrary to the lies of the culture, marriage is not the pathway to misery. It is, in fact, the pathway to the most satisfaction.

Young person, don’t listen to the lies of the culture, and young woman, stop listening to Alex Cooper’s demonic advice.


Alyssa Sonnenburg
Alyssa Sonnenburg is a disciple of Jesus and a dedicated wife and mom. She serves as an author, executive assistant, and radio personality representing Illinois Family Institute on WPEO’s “The Good Word” Program and “Next Generation Roundtable” with Point of View. With a passion for biblical truth, she seeks to use words and conversations to bring clarity to her culture and generation....
Related Articles
New Data Just In: Church Makes Happier Marriages
New Data Just In: Church Makes Happier Marriages
How I’m Choosing to “Waste” my 20s
How I’m Choosing to “Waste” my 20s
IFI Featured Video
A Biblical Response to Islam in America