In the book Cheap Sex by Mark Regnerus, he explores how technology has had an impact on sex life in the United States in the third chapter, which is called Cheaper, Faster, Better, More? Contemporary Sex in America. This is especially relevant today because technology seems to be involved in some way or another in our everyday lives. More specifically, he discusses how an application like Tinder transforms dating life, which can be used for people of different ages as well as sexual preferences. Furthermore, applications like this one allow for short term relationships, which can be seen as these sources allow for individuals to find a partner for cheap and easy. Therefore, people can argue that this leads to both positives and negatives in terms of relationships. An interesting part of this book is how Regnerus explains that men are more likely interested in having sex, while women are more interestd in love as well as having relationships and ultimately getting married. Therefore, these sorts of applications may be more beneficial to men, as it does not seem like they are used to find your soul mate but rather to find someone to have sex with. In fact, one may argue that it can be detrimental to long term relationships because men may be busy and more interested in this cheaper and easier alternative. This means that the number of typical and traditional relationships may be lower than in previous years in the United States. The different graphs and charts throughout this chapter and book provide more detail on the topics and how different genders are involved in their relationships. Overall, this chapter was both interesting and informative by providing details about the dating scene that are very relevant in our lives today.
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2 replies on “Cheap Sex Chapter 3”
I also found the idea that the “marketplace” and the idea of cheap sex is more beneficial for men to be interesting. Evidently, studies have shown that men will almost always tend towards wanting more sex, whereas women look for more stable relationships with love that offer a deeper, more than physical connection. Even with these statistics, however, the new market for Cheap Sex has exponentially increased the amount of meaningless sexual interactions experienced by today’s youth. And while it seems that men are the parties more interested in sex, but do you think that this increased desire is exclusive to men? Or do both parties in the transaction have an elevated appetite for the behavior?
So far, I have found this entire book to be especially interesting. I think you bring up a really good point about how technology is greatly impacting relationships and people’s sex lives through different applications such as Tinder. Meeting someone who is looking for the same thing in a sexual encounter as you are is now easier than ever. After reading chapter four I think it is also really important to consider pornography as a form of technology that has also greatly impacted the mating market. Sexual activity is now easily and readily available for anyone, whether they are alone or not. It is fascinating to consider that pornography may be used as a replacement for sex by some people. If Regnerus is correct in stating that men are more interested in and capable of engaging in sex without commitment, while women are looking for commitment, he is entirely accurate when stating that pornography and technology in general has greatly lowered the price of sex. Women are therefore at a disadvantage in the market.