It’s Friday, February 13. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: A retired FBI official on the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping. A Harvard student who is happy about tougher grading. Hadley Freeman on why it’s okay to wait to have kids. Rupa Subramanya on a mass shooting in Canada. Gabe Kaminsky on why a top Trump administration antitrust official got the boot. And much more.
But first: Kara Kennedy investigates why everyone is having less sex.
Every Valentine’s Day, we tell ourselves the same story: That everyone else must be having more sex than we are.
But the data suggests something else. One in four American couples now have sex once a month or less. Weekly sex among adults has plummeted since the 1990s. And it’s not just singles who aren’t hooking up—even couples who share beds are opting out.
So I set out to find out why.
I spoke to men and women of different ages who insist they’re still attracted to their partners—but that they’re just “tired.” Or they don’t want to “perform.” Or it’s just not a priority.
I dug into research on testosterone decline, hormonal birth control, social media addiction, and porn. And I spoke to Debra Soh, whose new book Sextinction: The Decline of Sex and the Future of Intimacy—an excerpt of which we are publishing today—argues that what we’re witnessing isn’t just a dry spell but a cultural shift. She told me that before writing her new book, she was among those who thought all the talk about a “sex recession” were overblown. But, she added, she’s come to believe that the lack of sex is a serious issue, and suggestive of a large problem. “We, as a society, are on the way to becoming more disconnected from one another.”
Read my dispatch on America’s sex recession, and Debra’s piece on the decline in human intimacy and the alarming rise of artificial intelligence-powered sex dolls.
—Kara Kennedy
There’s No ‘Perfect Age’ to Have a Baby |
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It’s no secret that women are having children later, a fact that has inspired heated debate across the political spectrum. The right says women should have children in their 20s, when it’s safest and easiest, and while it’s true that there is a biologically optimal age range, it may not be socially optimal for all women, writes Hadley Freeman. Read her take on why it’s important for women to “become an adult” and build their own identity before trying for a baby. | | |
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I’m a Harvard Student. It’s Too Easy to Get an A. |
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Grade inflation has spiraled out of control at Harvard, and the median grade is now an A. But Harvard senior Isaac Mansell argues that this system erases distinctions between students, substitutes effort for excellence, and discourages true learning. Read why—unlike 85 percent of Harvard undergraduates—Isaac supports the hard cap on A grades that the administration has proposed. | | |
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Canada and the U.S. Now Have Something Horrific in Common |
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Canadians have long thought of school shootings as an American problem—until this week, when a transgender shooter killed eight people and injured 25 in a small town in British Columbia. Rupa Subramanya reports on the Canadians who see a connection between transgenderism and mental health in the aftermath of the shooting, and how the country failed to prevent this tragedy. | | |
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How the FBI Is Searching for Nancy Guthrie |
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It’s been 13 days since Nancy Guthrie, mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home in Arizona. Retired FBI agent Danny Coulson, who founded the agency’s Hostage Rescue Team, spoke to Tanner Nau about the strategies the FBI uses in a kidnapping, what agents are gleaning from the video of the kidnapper, and whether all the media attention is helping or hurting. | | |
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Trump’s Tough-Talking Antitrust Chief Is Pushed Out |
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Disagreements inside the Trump administration over antitrust policy came to a head yesterday when Gail Slater, the Department of Justice’s tough-minded antitrust chief, was pushed out, Gabe Kaminsky reports. Even though Slater was confirmed by a bipartisan vote in the Senate, the infighting within the DOJ over whether to block big mergers or give them a pass was nonstop. “Good riddance,” one corporate lobbyist posted on X upon hearing the news of her ouster. |
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