I figured I’d take a brake from blogging about the otherwise enthralling world of procurement to delve into some social science. This blog, and many others like it, are all wrapped up in the economy and commodities and such, but what about the ancillary casualties of the tanking economy?
I was reading through the New York Times online the other day, as I typically do on my lunch, and I came across an article about how sex tourism in Prague is down markedly. This industry isn’t just coming up short abroad, either. The Mustang Ranch in Reno, NV recently laid off 30% of its workforce. Not even the oldest profession in the world is recession-proof. This got me thinking; can sex become a victim of a lousy economy?
The example of sex tourism is fairly easily explained; people have less disposable income than in the past and therefore can’t spend it on vices such as legal (or illegal) prostitution. Hey, I don’t judge. But let’s dig a little deeper than that. I feel a bit more confident there won’t be any complaints leveled here as a result of this blog as I’m sure 99.9% of procurement blog readers possess some Y chromosomes.
One of the biggest contributors to marital stress is money related. Show me a couple who hasn’t fought over money and I’ll show you two corpses. In a down economy, maybe one or both individuals lost their job or had to take a pay cut and some quick decisions need to be made about how to survive the downturn. Does the mental picture of two rams on a mountaintop butting heads come to mind? When a couple is fighting over money, as might happen in a recession, they’re probably not “in the mood”. It’s fairly anatomically difficult to have sex when you’re sleeping with your backs to each other. Even more difficult if one is on the couch and the other is in the bedroom. Sex becomes a victim of the bad economy.
How about depression? It is no secret when people lose their jobs - take a pay cut, have to cut back on luxuries they typically enjoy - depression can follow, especially with loss of job. Many career-oriented people identify themselves with their profession; take that profession away and those people are as adrift as Rod Blagojevich on an ethics panel. One symptom of depression is reduced libido. Sex becomes a victim of the bad economy.
What about chances to get away from the kids to have some, ahem, mommy and daddy time? This summer, when gas was over $4 a gallon, we heard for the first time the term “stay-cation”. Families vacationed in their back yards rather than the beach. No time for mommy and daddy to run back to the hotel while the kiddies walk the boardwalk. Also, many parents opted not to send their children to day camps and various other camps this summer due to budget constraints, so even less time alone. Again, sex becomes a victim of the bad economy.
This is all theorizing, mind you, but these assumptions make sense. I’m not sure if there’s any sociological research out there covering this topic, but it makes for interesting discussion. Now get your mind out of the gutter and start thinking procurement.
I was reading through the New York Times online the other day, as I typically do on my lunch, and I came across an article about how sex tourism in Prague is down markedly. This industry isn’t just coming up short abroad, either. The Mustang Ranch in Reno, NV recently laid off 30% of its workforce. Not even the oldest profession in the world is recession-proof. This got me thinking; can sex become a victim of a lousy economy?
The example of sex tourism is fairly easily explained; people have less disposable income than in the past and therefore can’t spend it on vices such as legal (or illegal) prostitution. Hey, I don’t judge. But let’s dig a little deeper than that. I feel a bit more confident there won’t be any complaints leveled here as a result of this blog as I’m sure 99.9% of procurement blog readers possess some Y chromosomes.
One of the biggest contributors to marital stress is money related. Show me a couple who hasn’t fought over money and I’ll show you two corpses. In a down economy, maybe one or both individuals lost their job or had to take a pay cut and some quick decisions need to be made about how to survive the downturn. Does the mental picture of two rams on a mountaintop butting heads come to mind? When a couple is fighting over money, as might happen in a recession, they’re probably not “in the mood”. It’s fairly anatomically difficult to have sex when you’re sleeping with your backs to each other. Even more difficult if one is on the couch and the other is in the bedroom. Sex becomes a victim of the bad economy.
How about depression? It is no secret when people lose their jobs - take a pay cut, have to cut back on luxuries they typically enjoy - depression can follow, especially with loss of job. Many career-oriented people identify themselves with their profession; take that profession away and those people are as adrift as Rod Blagojevich on an ethics panel. One symptom of depression is reduced libido. Sex becomes a victim of the bad economy.
What about chances to get away from the kids to have some, ahem, mommy and daddy time? This summer, when gas was over $4 a gallon, we heard for the first time the term “stay-cation”. Families vacationed in their back yards rather than the beach. No time for mommy and daddy to run back to the hotel while the kiddies walk the boardwalk. Also, many parents opted not to send their children to day camps and various other camps this summer due to budget constraints, so even less time alone. Again, sex becomes a victim of the bad economy.
This is all theorizing, mind you, but these assumptions make sense. I’m not sure if there’s any sociological research out there covering this topic, but it makes for interesting discussion. Now get your mind out of the gutter and start thinking procurement.
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