Dollars and Sex

01How has tech changed dating?

In "Dollars and Sex," Marina Adshade, Ph.D., explores how technology has changed the dating game. The biggest game-changer? Birth control. This technology has dramatically shifted the dynamics of sexual relationships. Back in the day, the fear of pregnancy was a big reason why people avoided sex before marriage. Women knew that having a baby without being married could seriously hurt their chances of finding a husband with a good income. But with the invention of reliable birth control, women could control when they wanted to have kids. This power shift made sex before marriage a safer choice, leading to a societal shift where the benefits of premarital sex started to outweigh the risks. But that doesn't mean that birth control has solved all our problems. Even with all the different types of birth control available, the number of unplanned pregnancies is still going up. This doesn't mean birth control isn't important. Instead, it shows how birth control has led to social changes, like more people having sex. But does having more sex make people happier? You might think that having more sexual partners would make you happier, since sex is usually linked with pleasure and satisfaction. But research says otherwise. Studies show that the more sexual partners someone has, the less happy they tend to be. Adshade uses economics to explain these trends in a unique way. She says that the more relaxed attitudes towards sex in the 20th century, along with the growing income gap between the rich and the poor, have led to more unplanned pregnancies, especially in poor communities. In short, technology hasn't just changed how we date and have sex. It's also changed our societal norms and values. It's changed how we think about sex before marriage, how we view happiness, and it's shown us the economic differences that still affect our sexual behaviors. Adshade's book goes into more detail about these fascinating connections between economics, technology, and sex.