A new report from The Guardian's Abigail Haworth quotes a shocking statistic from the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA) that 45% of Japanese women aged 16-24 "were not interested in or despised sexual contact."
25% of Japanese men feel the same way, according to the JFPA.
The statistic comes from Haworth's recent article about how more and more young people in Japan have stopped having sex — bad news for Japan's population crisis, given the country's already low birth rate and the projection that its population of 126 million is expected to plunge 30% by 2060.
Even though casual sex is becoming more common in Japan, a 2011 survey found that 61% of unmarried men and 49% of women aged 18-34 were not in any kind of relationship — a rise of 10% from five years earlier, according to Haworth.
One of the reasons for the decline in dating and sex among young Japanese adults seems to stem from the fact that men and women have different long-term values — while men have become less career-driven, women are valuing their careers more than romantic relationships, and don't want to give up their fulfilling (and time-intensive) jobs.
A whopping 90% of young women surveyed by Japan's Institute of Population and Social Security say that staying single is preferable to what they think marriage would be like.
And it seems there is cultural evidence to back them up. Most of the women Haworth spoke to for the article said it wasn't uncommon for women to be let go by their companies after getting married since it was expected they would become pregnant soon after and leave anyway. (Though a huge generalization, a BBC report from March does say that 70% of Japanese women do leave their jobs after their first child.)
The entire article is definitely worth a read — check it out over at The Guardian.
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