THE MALE SEXUAL DEFICIT: A SOCIAL FACT OF THE 21st CENTURY - AND ITS MANY CONSEQUENCES

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Catherine Hakim

London School of Economics, England

: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry

Abstract

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Nationally representative interview surveys of sexual behavior and attitudes proliferated around the globe from 1990 onwards as a result of the AIDS scare, yet are overlooked by sociologists and economists. We review findings from some 30 national sex surveys around the world showing that large and substantively important differences between men and women in the centrality of sexuality, sexual desire, sexual behavior and sexual attitudes persist in the 21st century, long after the contraceptive and sexual revolutions of the 1960s gave women access to recreational sex on the same level as men have enjoyed historically. Women’s lesser sexual motivation and interest means that many heterosexual men experience a shortfall in desired sexual activity, both within and outside long-term relationships. A reversal of the sex ratio to a male surplus among prime age adults, women’s access to economic independence, and other trends suggest that the sexual deficit among men is increasing long term. The male sexual deficit (or surplus male sexuality) helps to explain sexual harassment, sexual violence, rape, rising demand for commercial sexual services and other behaviors that are almost exclusively male, even in liberal democracies of the Western world.

Biography

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Catherine Hakim is a pioneering social scientist, Professorial Research Fellow with Civitas, a London think tank, and a regular commentator in the media. She has worked in the Centre for Policy Studies, London, and the WZB research institute in Berlin. Her professional experience spans central government, consultancy, and academia. In the British Ministry of Employment, she initiated research on occupational segregation, the pay gap, and home-based work. As a Senior Research Fellow and Professor in the London School of Economics she developed Preference Theory, and a theory of the social and economic value of Erotic Capital. She is an internationally recognized expert on women's employment, social and family policy, voluntary childlessness and the male sexual deficit. Her publications include over 100 papers published in social science journals and edited collections, several textbooks, including Key Issues in Women’s Work and Research Design, books and research monographs. See www. catherinehakim.org.

Email: hakim@CatherineHakim.org