Fewer young people are having sex, but the teens and young adults who are sexually active aren’t using condoms as regularly, if at all. And people ages 15 to 24 made up half of new chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases in 2022.
The downward trend in condom usage is due to a few things: medical advancements like long-term birth control options and drugs that prevent sexually transmitted infections; a fading fear of contracting HIV; and widely varying degrees of sex education in high schools.
Is this the end of condoms? Not exactly. But it does have some public health experts thinking about how to help younger generations have safe sex, be aware of their options — condoms included — and get tested for STIs regularly.
This is really unprovable, but my theory is that this is also another result of late-stage capitalistic exhaustion. While young people still want to be ethical and moral and safe, there’s a lot of moment-to-moment existential rebellion with so many layers of rules, norms and expectations.
It’s similar to the rise of “treat” habits - if there’s no realistic possibility of the American dream and house and white picket fence and kids for an average worker’s salary, you have a moment of probably irresponsible spending that feels life affirming, to shake off the feeling of being in a Matrix pod that’s sucking out your life force in the most efficient manner possible.
Hence, no condom! Or something.