9 - The End of Sex?

Season 1 comes to an end. But not without saying many thanks, recaping the latest data and musing about accordion and bagpipes. As for what's next? Suscribe to our newsletter to keep in touch. A small click for you but a giant leap for the crew behind this podcast: Laurent Kouchner, Ben Molinaro and myself, David Duhamel

https://podcast.ausha.co/a-childless-world?s=1

See you very soon.

 In this episode, women look back on their journey and discuss the choice they made many
years ago to have or not to have children. One reaffirms that choosing to be childfree was the best decision she ever made while another talks about a subject still taboo: motherhood regret. As for me? Well, let’s just say, I made a fool of myself.   

Students from all over the world claim their right for a childfree life. Some want freedom, others long for better gender balance, and others recoil in the face a dystopian future. Demographers say the childfree are few and far between. That is about to change.

A podcast created by David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod

Original music : Ben Molinaro

Graphism : Anna Toussaint

Sources

Eva Beaujouan & Al, 2017, Has Childlessness peaked in Europe? Population and Societies, n°540

Charlotte Debest & Al, 2014, Childlessness: a life choice that goes against the norm, Population and Societies, n°508

Tomas Sobotka, World's Highest Childlessness Levels in East Asia, 2021, Population and Societies, n°595

Behind the decline in fertility, isn't there a Sex Recession? A Love Crisis? Dating skills that are withering away? A Tinder-apocalypse? Undeniably, this episode is different. I talk about marriage, divorce, Tinder, pornography, patriarchy, and pleasure. And as bonus, I offer a bright new game for the next time you entertain friends at home.  

A podcast created by David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod

Original music : Ben Molinaro

Graphism : Anna Toussaint

Sources

Daysy Letourneur, 2022, On ne nait pas mec, on le devient. Zones

Bruno Patino, 2019, La Civilisation du poisson rouge, Grasset

Esther Perel, 2007, Mating in Captivity, Yellow Kite

On declining sex-activity

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japan-sex-problem-demographic-time-bomb-birth-rates-sex-robots-fertility-crisis-virgins-romance-porn-a7831041.html

https://www.italymagazine.com/italy/science/less-sex-italian-couples-drop-male-sex-drive-blamed

Kate Julian, 2018, Why are Young People Having so Little Sex? The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex-recession/573949/

Debbie Herbenicl & Al, 2019, Changes in Penile-Vaginal Intercourse Frequency and Sexual Repertoire from 2009 to 2018: Findings from the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 51  10.1007/s10508-021-02125-2 

On Dating Apps

Anna Brown, 2020, PEW research center, A profile of single Americans

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/a-profile-of-single-americans/

On Google Searches

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, 2017, Everybody Lies, Bloomsury

France has the highest fertility in Europe. It owes this privilege to its culture and history. The French woman, and even more, the idealized French woman, is the reason for this exception. Beyond France, this episode travels through Europe, North, South, and East and then North America and tells of a world that is being emptied of humans but is being filled... with wolves.  

Un podcast de David Duhamel produit par MaisonK Prod

Musique originale : Ben Molinaro

Graphisme : Anna Toussaint

Sources

George Alter et Gregory Clark, 2010, The Demographic Transition and Human Capiltal, in Stephen Broadberry, and Kevin O'Rourke, The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe: Volume 1, 1700-1870. Cambridge University Press.

Jordan Nickerson and David H. Solomon, 2020, Car Seats as Contraception, SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3665046 

https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate

Will China rule the 21st century? Isn’t this THE question of our time? Well, get ready because this episode delivers a definitive answer. Spoiler Alert! There will be mentions of the Last Generation, of Missing Women, of a loneliness epidemic. A talk with Heidi, a former student from Shanghai will bring us closer to the truth: that Chinese decline is already engraved in its demography 

Un podcast de David Duhamel produced by  MaisonK Prod 

Original music  : Ben Molinaro 

Illustration : Anna Toussaint 

Sources:  

Isabelle Attané, 2022, China’s New Three-Child Policy:
What Effects Can We Expect?, Population and Societies n°596  

Yi Fuxian 

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-2020-census-inflates-population-figures-downplays-demographic-challenge-by-yi-fuxian-2021-08 

On “effeminate men”,  

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/opinion/china-masculinity.html 

On Butler cafés 

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008384/chinas-hottest-new-rental-service-men-who-actually-listen 

On Dating classes 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3244423/Chinese-university-offer-new-course-dating-students-marks-partner.html 

On the latest population projections 

 https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/12/05/key-facts-about-chinas-declining-population/ 

South Koreans are not having children anymore… at all. Zero. or 0.79 per woman which is about the same. The youth is called the “Sampo” generation. The generation that gave up three times. In this episode I talk with Minyoung, a former student from Korea as we explain why Korean universities dispense dating classes and why suicide is now the leading cause of death among the young. South Korea is putting itself on an extinction trajectory. Shouldn’t we be noticing? 

A podcast by David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod

Original music: Ben Molinaro

Graphic design: Anna Toussaint

Sources

On Global students ranking

 http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/PISA-2012-results-overview-FR.pdf

On dating classes

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/dongguk-university-course-marriage-love-dating-mandatory-1.4532780

On celibacy rates

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/29/asia/south-korea-fertility-intl-hnk-trnd/index.html

On advices given to future mothers

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/11/dont-look-dishevelled-anger-over-seoul-citys-advice-to-pregnant-women

Japan, the oldest country in the world, stopped having enough kids and entered population decline before everybody else. Take a good look at Japan, it’s like those dead stars whose light still touches us. By the way, are we sure we’re different?  

A podcast by David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod

Original music: Ben Molinaro

Graphic design: Anna Toussaint

Sources

OCDE,  2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-data-fr.   

Global Gender Index  

https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022/  

On Sex recession in Japan

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex-recession/573949/  

After being more or less stable for 200.000 years, Global fertility has halved in the last 70 years. It's maybe Humankind's biggest change. It's insane! What is happening? So many things at once...

A podcast by David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod

Original music: Ben Molinaro

Graphic design: Anna Toussaint

Sources :

Matthias Doepke et Al., 2022, The Economics of Fertility: A New Era, https://www.nber.org/papers/w29948

Our World in Data:  https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate

Eliana La Ferrara, Alberto Chong and Suzanne Duryea, 2012, "Soap Operas and Fertility: Evidence from Brazil. "American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 4(4), 1-31

Robert Jensen et Emily Oster, 2009, The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women's Status in India, The Quaterly Journal of Economics, Volume 124, Issue 3,  https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2009.124.3.1057 

Will the world crumble under the weight of its population, overwhelmed by a barrage of migration waves? Or will it fade away like a morning mist, made of ever rarer children born out of the Last Generation? The world is missing the real problem: Underpopulation and overconsumption. We are fighting the wrong war.