Gen Z face ‘price of loving’ disaster amid fears rising costs depart singletons laborious up
Hookups didn’t die, the economy did. When the cost of a mojito rivals a phone bill, even getting to the kiss feels like a premium experience for young singletons looking for love
Young people are facing a “cost of loving crisis” as sex has “become a luxury” in the current economy, it is claimed. While the deed itself is free, the admin that surrounds it now comes with premium pricing.
Gen Z fear can’t afford to move out, see their mates or go on dates. And with the average price of a mojito setting you back anything from £9- £15, just confirming the first date means they’re already financially committed to someone they barely know.
The cost of living crisis is no new news. Supermarket prices continue to soar, energy rates are out of control and rent prices are through the roof. But its impact on sex lives is now being spelled out – as current TikTok chat about the “cost of clarting” explains.
Young people can’t afford to get past the “talking stage”, and even if you did get lucky, you’d have to bring them home to mum and dad because the cheapest hotel is £130 on a random Tuesday.
So not only is it embarrassing to have a boyfriend – as Vogue made clear a couple of months ago – even if you wanted one, you’d struggle to afford the first date.
For many people the first hurdle isn’t simply chemistry or attraction, it’s whether you can afford a second round of drinks. The evidence is clear, there is a nationwide “cost of bonking crisis” and it is devastating single people the most.
Hookup culture thrived in the early 2010s when London rent was around £500 a month, a Premier Inn was around £50 and hope still existed.
Today only 26% of young Londoners can get a mortgage with the average London house price being a heartbreaking £505,000, and a night at a Premier Inn costing anything from £150-£200, leaving very little hope and as a result, very little shagging going on.
As TikTok user Trapmoneymelly put it, people “need somewhere to s**g… people are not s***ging anymore and that is how I measure inflation.”
Mel definitely has a point. In most cases, but of course not all, sex and intimacy require quite a bit of work. They require privacy and time- two things increasingly tied to money. Meaning that fostering an environment where this is possible is increasingly rare.
The infrastructure surrounding sex is collapsing under inflation, introducing a kind of “s**g tax” on top of it all. The lack of funds in our younger generation means dating is all the more impacted.
For example the every now and again social media hysteria that erupts should someone shame a man for not paying the bill at dinner or the controversial lack of flower giving.
However, this actually makes perfect sense given that it takes a UK graduate around a year and 300 plus applications to get a job. Meaning, it’s not stinginess, it’s economic survival.
Forget fostering a relationship, even a one night stand is an achievement these days. London, once the promised land of drugs, pubs, clubs and sex, is now the 4th most expensive city in the world and far from what it used to be.
With return fares and peak times considered, a tube ride across the city would cost an average of £15.30 and an average ‘night out’ coming to around £60 on top of that, these once ‘promised’ occasions are now occurring once in a blue moon.
So even if you did pull on a night out, you’d still need a place to take them because you can’t bring Tom, Dick and Harry home and hosting them brings with it many more elements of the shag tax.
The cost of shagging is definitely a crisis, but the sad reality is that people are literally too broke to afford human connection let alone someone to bring home and the persistent rate of inflation is no help.
At this rate celibacy isn’t a lifestyle choice, it’s part of the budget.
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