Are We Being Priced Out Of Hookup Culture?
Words: Dray Morgan
We’ve covered the struggles of love surviving the housing crisis before. Hookup culture is also disintegrating due to the rising cost of a one-night stand. We spoke to young people to unpack why hookup culture is fading and how a lack of space for intimacy is impacting the mental state of a generation.
Countless surveys over the past decade have shown that Gen Z are having less sex than previous generations. The rise of AI partners, the COVID pandemic, and many other reasons have been attributed to this. However, the glaring reason is the lack of space to explore. If there’s nowhere to have sex, then sex will not happen.
The most recent figures from the European Commission show that Irish people don’t leave home until about 28 years old. This means that the vast majority of Gen Z call their mother their housemate. It also means that if that Hinge date goes well, you’re probably still not going to bring them back to your place. An entire generation is now faced with a few options: enter the financially crippling rental world, book a hotel, or abstain from intercourse. More so than ever, young people are choosing the latter.
The number of people aged 18–29 who haven’t had sex in the past year has doubled since 2010.
Opting for a hotel has become equally unsustainable, as we are seeing a meteoric rise in hotel prices in Ireland. The average price for a hotel stay is €174 per night — a rise of 23% in six years. The average 25-year-old’s salary in Ireland takes home about €2000 per month. Spending almost 10% of the monthly budget on one night of fun, isn’t exactly justifiable.
We collected testimonials from District followers to see how their intimate lives have been impacted by their lack of a sexual sanctuary.
“I’m fortunate enough to live in a three-bed house. But with thin walls, my younger sibling’s bedroom next to mine, and a fifteen year-old bed frame, it’s impossible to have a night with anyone in my own home,” said Alex, 23.
“I live in a council house with my sister, her girlfriend, my brother, my da, and two dogs. You can always go on dates, but I feel intimacy is important. You can’t really bring people home with a full house that’s never empty. Hotels are way too expensive — most are over €100 a night. It’s doable, but it’s also a bit senseless to use a quarter of my wage for a bit of sex,” said Cian, 23.
“It affects my intimate life, especially when it comes to the freedom of sexual exploration, as I think it does for most people. It’s not like you could be having one-night stands in your parents’ home, so I’m only really exploring my sexuality when I’m in someone else’s house or dating someone. Hotels are definitely not an option unless I overdraft my bank account for some shitty Airbnb,” said Roisín, 28.
The position of these young people seems to be a living example of the phenomenon forecasted by Rory Hearne. In his piece in our newest book ‘District: 10 Years of Chaos’, entitled ‘Locked Out’ he states:
“People who traditionally moved out in their late teens or mid-twenties can no longer move out. They are stuck in their parental home, in their childhood box rooms. I’ve described this before as being infantilised: adults are not able to start independent lives or have relationships. I don’t think we’ve really talked about that properly.”
