The Fight for Love and Pleasure

Why are young Americans having a hard time getting down?

Editor’s Note

This is a special edition of The Masthead. The reporting in this issue draws on our conversation with Kate Julian, an Atlantic editor and the author of “The Sex Recession.” Her reporting raised more questions than she could answer even in a lengthy cover story; here, we try to answer some of them.

In this series, you’ll find a multipart guide to the sex recession. What is it, you ask? Despite big changes in the culture, writes Kate, “American teenagers and young adults are having less sex.” The big mystery is why.

— Matt Peterson, editor, The Masthead

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What’s Causing the Sex Recession?

Young people are having less sex. The big question is, why?