Intimacy should be freer and easier than ever, whether for procreation or recreation. Yet at every age the data is stark
In two weeks’ time, the first quarter of this century will be over. Twenty-five years during which every aspect of culture, identity and human progress seemed to hurtle forwards at double speed. From this vantage point, you can begin to have a go at guessing how history might cast the early years of the third millennium.
We’ll get points for technological headway. There are no flying cars and we don’t have chips in our eyes, but AI can tell you if you have cancer and Katy Perry touched the edge of space. The years have been mired by a pandemic, climate change and several major global conflicts; people are also living longer, and in much of the world people are enjoying more freedom than ever before. But when history has the final say on the human race’s sexual progress, we are unlikely to come off well.
Why? Because even though we are (in this country and many others) free to have whatever kind of sex we like with whomever we like – even though long-held stigmas have fallen away, sexuality is fluid and casual sex is available at any time of the day or night via apps on our phones – we are no longer having it. In fact, for some time now, a sex recession has been underway. And the tide shows little sign of turning.
It is the strange paradox of our time. All the evidence points to the idea that sex should be more wild and plentiful than it has been since ancient Greece. The old rules have been cast aside, desire no longer comes imbued with a kind of puritanical shame, and medical progress means that it is possible to have sex without fear of pregnancy or illness. And yet, the data shows that across every generation we are having less sex than we used to.
The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) has been conducted roughly every decade in the UK since 1990. The last one came out in 2011, when it showed sex was in decline. Between 1990 and 2011, the number of times the average Brit was having sex each month had fallen from five to three.
The next survey is due in the summer of 2026. Sociologists predict it will show a further drop, and research carried out in the interim backs this up.
In fact, in what may come as alarming news to Generation Z, a Telegraph analysis of YouGov polling shows that young people are now having less sex than their parents. The proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds that are sexually active has declined considerably.
MORE:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/sex-is-dying-out-this-is-why-it-matters/
You download a new app, eager to get past the sign-in page and all the pop-ups asking you if you’re super sure you don’t want to pay for the premium version. When you’re almost there, the app asks you to agree to a lengthy privacy policy. If you’re like me and you lack caution, you hastily check yes and move on.
This scenario is becoming an increasingly common problem as more gadgets require companion apps to control them. And sex toys are no exception.
With research showing that the global sex toy market continues to grow steadily—it’s expected to top $80 billion by 2030—it only makes sense that this wildly popular electronics sector also turned to app-pairing technology. Of course, if you’re worried about a paired app collecting data about how you’re using the device, it might be alarming to consider what types of data a sex toy’s app is tracking.
MORE:
https://archive.ph/NazXW#selection-975.0-1001.116
The hacking group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, which includes members of a gang known as ShinyHunters, said it is attempting to extort porn site Pornhub, after claiming to have stolen personal information belonging to the website’s premium members.
On Friday, Pornhub confirmed it was among several companies affected by an earlier breach at the widely used web and mobile analytics provider Mixpanel, which exposed unspecified “analytics events” of some Pornhub Premium users.
On Monday, Bleeping Computer reported seeing a sample of the stolen Pornhub data, which included personal information associated with Pornhub Premium members, including their registered email addresses and location; activity type, such as which videos and channels they watched, including the video name and web address; keywords associated with the video; and the date and time that the event was recorded.
MORE:
CYBER SHOCK Pornhub hit by huge security breach as 200 million premium users’ data records and search history stolen by hackers
The adult site has reached out to more than 200 million premium users
https://www.the-sun.com/news/15652411/pornhub-security-breach-users-data-stolen/
https://www.pcmag.com/news/pornhub-premium-members-search-and-viewing-activity-stolen-by-hackers