WAS IT GOOD FOR YOU?

Shot: “Sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three (Which was rather late for me) between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles’ first LP.”

― British poet Philip Larkin, “Annus Mirabilis,” 1974.

Chaser: “Goodbye to sex: a short and heartfelt eulogy:”

Born in 1963, died 2016 – alas poor Sex. We knew you well. Well, not WELL. We knew you. Slightly. That was a good summer.

But it was with great regret and some tears that last week we learned of your death. All of us will remember where we were when we heard, of course – we were not having you. We were sitting on sofas, TV on, loungewear on, jointly scrolling through our phones for more updates on what the millennials are thinking, eating Doritos.

* * * * * * * *

But why? Why have young people stopped having you? Why have they stopped building their lives around you, the peg their tents were tied to, the mistakes they yearned to make? Why have you died just when, some would argue, we needed you most?

—Eva Wiseman, the London Guardian, yesterday.

Hangover: The Unsexy Truth About Millennials: They’re Poor: If you’re wondering why millennials don’t have much sex, and don’t buy cars, forget social theorizing: the harsh truth lies in their near-empty wallets.

—The Daily Beast, August 5th.

(Guardian essay found via Kathy Shaidle.)