To avoid doing anything, wait for the right circumstances. – Mason Cooley
I’m sure my regular readers have noticed that, though I usually feature news items y’all send me within a week or so, there are times when I don’t even mention them in passing (much less feature them), even if they seem to be something right up my alley. Indeed, sometimes a dozen or more of you will send something to me, and that’s on top of all the times I see it on Twitter, yet I stubbornly refuse to give it as much as a nod. And when it does happen, some of you probably ask yourselves, “What is up with that?” Well, today I’m going to explain it, with the help of a recent example of the phenomenon.
The one-word explanation is “instinct”. As many have remarked, my bullshit detector is pretty finely calibrated; I can usually sense it no matter how expertly it’s hidden, and I can often produce an analysis of the exact breed and variety of the bull and tell you what he was eating besides. But at other times, I’m just not conversant enough with the background or good enough with math to figure out exactly what’s wrong with the story in question; I still know that it’s wrong, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. And so rather than rush to report something everyone else is nattering and opining about, and thereby look like an idiot when it’s invariably debunked, I just sit back quietly and wait for the other shoe to drop.
This particular case in point started back in July, with the publication of an article in Marie Claire which rehashed the perennial legend that young Japanese people have lost interest in sex (remember when the “herbivores” were taking over a few years ago?) Well, nobody noticed this new one (because it was Marie Claire, after all) until author Abigail Haworth rehashed it in the Guardian one month ago today…and then it took off, being quoted and discussed in many other media outlets. Needless to say, none of them bothered to do any original research to confirm the story; as in the case of “sex trafficking”, the parrots in journalists’ clothing at Time, Huffington Post, Slate and many other rags mindlessly reported the original, with the high level of critical analysis one might expect from a toddler or a spambot. I knew it was garbage from the get-go; Japan has one of the largest and most diverse sex industries on the planet. It equated dating with having sex, like the American researchers who obsess about “correcting” the large discrepancy between the fraction of men who cheat and the fraction of women, because they refuse to recognize that the majority of male cheating is carried out with whores rather than cheating wives. Furthermore, it claimed that a low birth rate was somehow evidence of lack of sex, as though the reporter had dispatched her story from some past era before the invention of reliable contraception. However, I was still reluctant to weigh in; I’m not an expert in Japanese culture, so it was conceivable that there was something beyond those two obvious errors that I was overlooking.
As it turned out, on this occasion I had been overcautious. The debunkings which started appearing a week later came to the same conclusions I had, with very little more to add; I had simply underestimated the institutional cluelessness of the modern media. In Global Voices Online, Keiko Tanaka quoted a number of criticisms of the piece, including one which pointed out that Haworth cannot read Japanese and was therefore at the mercy of a tiny number of sources. And in Bloomberg, William Pesek wrote:
…The real issue is that many avoid traditional, committed relationships out of doubts…based on economics rather than culture. If low libido were strictly societal, why do the Czech Republic, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and Taiwan have fertility rates as low as Japan’s? I don’t see the global media characterizing those countries as sexless freak shows spiraling toward extinction…Part of the problem is cherry-picked data. Take the 2011 survey…on which sex-drought stories are often based. Its finding that 61 percent of unmarried men and 49 percent of single women between 18 and 24 of age weren’t in any kind of romantic relationship is mentioned up high. Rarely cited is this fact on Page 2 of the report: almost 90 percent of respondents intend to marry someday. And…71 percent of unmarried Americans aren’t in committed relationships [either]…Japan’s low birthrate…is a result of exorbitant living costs, elevated stress and diminished confidence…
So there you have it. Though both of those articles did add details of which I was unaware, I could have commented on the matter without hesitation and been largely right on. Ah, well; at least I’ll have a resource to refer back to the next time the “asexual Japanese youth” canard starts making the rounds again in 2017 or thereabouts.
I saw that story and reacted just the same as you. I mean – first thing I thought of was … “What? A generation of males was born that suddenly lost interest in sex? This is some kind of freak of evolution!”
Then i thought – only way it could be true is if all the males had submerged themselves in virtual sex and pornography – which Japan is saturated with – but even that didn’t make sense to me. There’s a pretty vibrant sex industry in Japan – and I’m talking penetrative REAL sex. Unfortunately – it’s mostly open to Japanese men only. 🙁
Which is why I don’t like traveling to Japan. Then again – I’m not that attracted to Japanese women anyway – their asses are too flat for me.
Romania has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world – almost on the bottom – they’re WAAAAY behind the U.S. – but let me tell you – those girls do some fuckin’ – and A LOT of it. And God – I love them so … which is why I believe in God – Romanian women are PROOF of his existence! 😀
My two cents. 😀
There’s a pretty vibrant sex industry in Japan – and I’m talking penetrative REAL sex.
Yes, not only does Japan dominate the market in sex fiction (adult video, cartoons, videogames etc.) but they have the third most valuable prostitution market in the entire world and supply a large amount of clients to other Asian markets (eg. Thailand).
Unfortunately – it’s mostly open to Japanese men only. 🙁
That is a great thing; the opposition has no idea how to counter this reality. How do you persuade the masses that providers are “forced” when they know that gaijins with money are so often rejected?
Of course, there are also Japanese providers willing to accept foreigners, it’s simply a case of knowing where to look.
That’s a good point!
There was a sort of documentary about this on BBC recently; I can’t find it on the iPlayer. As I remember, the emphasis was on the shrinking population because women are having less than the required maintenance-level 2.1 children, the relatively elderly population and how they will be kept financially in the future. It also showed a multi-storey sex or game shop; several men seemed to be more interested in their game consoles with virtual girlfriends than in real ones; and the women seemed to be more interested in their careers rather than men and children, apparently because children would destroy the career. If I say that the best thing in the documentary was the presenter you will probably give me a slap.
“Grass eaters” have not lost interest in sex. They have lost interest in the assuming the social roles that make them attractive marriage partners to Japanese women such as working until they die at their desks and handing over all of their salaries to their wives save for a small allowance.
I’m quite sure that these “herbivores” would be quite up for some real, no strings attached, free sex.
The same goes for Singapore, although to a lesser degree. The financial and social responsibilities of marriage are incredibly daunting, and parenthood even more so, simply because everything is so high pressure and fast paced.
That’s exactly my point. It isn’t a lack of interest in sex; it’s a rejection of a social role. They’re not at all the same thing, except in the minds of social constructionists perhaps.
The “grass eaters” better lace it up and tie it in a knot though – because they have both the North Koreans and Chinese in their six.
They don’t have time for the luxury of slacking off. If the U.S. is going to be less of a world policeman – then the Japanese had better get over their identity crises and be men.
Then Japan has to have the realization that the reward their society offers isn’t sufficient, and the will to change things.
Sooner or later you are going to get your wish, and wish you hadn’t. Japan’s militarists are a minority now (or they, too, are waiting an opportunity), but I don’t think we did a good enough job of purging them after 1945 as we did the Nazis.
Sometime in the next 40 years, and I think sooner, we’re going to have to fight them again.
Fight the Japanese? I’m not always right but I highly doubt it.
All of the militarists from WWII were either purged by us – or by time. None of those guys are around any longer. Also – the Japanese really don’t follow the rigid code of Bushido any longer – and I think that was a major enabler of their pre-WWII militarism.
Japan is a really solid ally – and I’m not just talking about at the governmental level – Japanese and U.S. military forces have done so much training together that they’re friends at the deckplate level as well.
The Chinese haven’t forgiven Japan for WWII – and neither has North Korea (nor South Korea if the truth be told) … but the U.S. has. I really don’t see Japan isolating themselves completely by competing with us militarily. That would be suicide for them.
If Tojo and his cabinet had actually been rigid followers of Bushido, wouldn’t they have apologized to the Emperor for their failures with suicide?
Given the option, responsible parents don’t have more children than they can afford. When the economy in Latvia tanked, Latvian birthrates went through the floor (and they’ll stay there unless it recovers some day).
However, the fertility rate and the sex rate need to be separated. (This probably doesn’t apply to Japan, but emigration usually plays in to the population statistics as well.)
Except in the third world …
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html
Women generally want relationships to “go somewhere” (ring, house, kids), so if they turn their back on fertility it’s going to an effect
I agree with your (pww) definition of responsible, but most people aren’t.
Not having all the children you possibly can is still a very new idea historically. Until Bismarck created the first welfare state in 1871, the only form of “retirement” anywhere consisted of having your children support you after you were too old to work. If you didn’t have any, you died. This has never stopped being true in the non-rich 75% of the world.
This is why I consider the environmental movement (and its offshoot ZPG) dangerous as well as misguided. It’s rich countries that can afford to clean up pollution and to lower birth rates, yet the eco-movement is all about making us poor and reversing all the progress of the last 400 years. No thanks. I want to see the entire world rich, ASAP. It’s not only safer for all life, it’s also the rightful destiny of all human beings.
Yes, you were right – it looked like bull from the get-go.
As an aside, my husband used to live in Japan and speaks fondly of the ‘love hotels’ where couples can rent (sometimes themed) rooms by the hour. They are popular with established couples who have not yet married, as many young Japanese people live at home until then. And of course, they’re popular with casual dates, cheaters and escorts as well.
The detail I particularly liked was that that rooms can be previewed and paid for by machine – no human receptionist required – and that there are separate men’s and women’s entrances, to spare the blushes of anyone who might be seen walking in with not their usual mate.
In the UK, you’d only get that level of discretion when renting a tanning booth. Hmm, maybe there’s an idea for anyone hoping to conduct business on the go…!
Saw this article and thought you might be interested: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/science/a-cold-war-fought-by-women.html
Whores are the Walmart of sex that the non-whore women who, like small businesses, want to shut down.
Makes it kind of sound like it’s a bit benign, doesn’t it? LOL – female aggression isn’t physical … but it’s damn sure vindictive and potent! And – unlike MOST males and physical aggression – females will ply their own brand of non-physical aggression on BOTH sexes. And – it’s equally effective!! LOL
I think a lot of this article is right but I don’t agree that women disdain promiscuity because it compromises the power-holding of the group.
It’s a lot more personal than that. Think of it this way … you’re a baseball player and you don’t use steroids – you’re trying to do it the “right” way and there are all these other guys using steroids that you have to compete with …
You’d be pretty pissed off at every steroid user because they’re driving you to steroids (if you want to compete with them) or driving you out of baseball if you refuse to.
And it’s the same with women – that girl in the tight blouse is resorting to a “trick” to get her man that many women either won’t resort to – or don’t have the physical assets to.
But this article deals with sluts – not “whores”. “Whores” aren’t trying to use their assets to acquire a mate – so why do “straight” women hate them?
I think it’s because straight women rely on the male sex drive to HERD the men to them – but “whores” complicate that paradigm by draining off some of that good ole’ reliable male drive.
From an economic perspective, it makes a lot of sense — women are a cartel with a monopoly on the supply of heterosexual sex. They use laws to protect themselves from sluts and whores dumping sex on the market place.
Old fashioned protectionism.
One reason birthrates are low in developed countries is that responsible couples actually sit down to figure out whether they can afford even one child plus carry the burden of confiscatory taxes. And why are there confiscatory taxes? Well, to pay for the social services “demanded” by the immigrants, who roll out spawn like turtles laying eggs. And besides, socialists think taxes are a good way for you to atone for the guilt they say you should feel. Then too, many men are leery of marriage because of the misandric domestic relations laws.
I would love to say that your description of the liberal thought process is incredibly far off the mark, but inaccuracy that extreme is all too easily found, so I shall have to settle for ‘extremely’ far off the mark.
Here’s something amazing: I’m late to this essay, and yet over the last weekend I listened to a podcast pointing out many of the same things (Japanese people really do have sex, birth rate and sex rate aren’t the same thing, etc.).
It’s like my brain is interacting with the Cosmic Consciousness or something. 😉