The cost of living crisis isn’t just murdering our financial savings, it’s killing Generation Z’s sex lives.
According to Bumble’s 2023 Sex Index – 65 per cent of single Gen Zers have reported their sex lives are impacted by their living situations.
It is a phenomenon known as being ‘home-blocked’ where your living situation impacts, or perhaps is even ruining, your sex life.
Your early twenties are meant to be all about sexual experimentation – but how on earth are you meant to do that when you can hear your parents watching the latest Nicole Kidman HBO series in the next room?
A recent Finder survey revealed that one in five Gen Zers have moved in with their parents during the cost of living crisis.
In fact 13 per cent of Australians – 2.6 million people – have moved back into their family home or have had an adult child move back in with them in the past 12 months.
The research shows the financial difference between those who live at home and those who rent adds up to $137,802 over a five-year period.
This isn’t news to anyone who has bills to pay.
Inflation is at a staggering seven per cent, the RBA has hiked interest rates 11 times over the past year, and a staggering 47 per cent of Aussies are saying they can’t afford to fill their trolleys with groceries, according to research by Suncorp.
The impact is pretty clear because Generation Z are now more likely to stay at home longer and more likely to go crawling back to their parent’s house.
The younger generation might be saving on rent, but the move is costing them their sex lives for one slightly “embarrassing” reason.
It far less living like Samantha Jones from Sex And The City and far more trying to have silent sex.
*Hannah, 22, lives in Sydney, works part-time in retail and studies full-time at University, and yes, she’s still living at home with her parents.
She moved out for six months in search of freedom but ultimately moved back in with her parents because she wanted to “save money” and working more was impacting her university work and social life.
“I wanted to save money and also found that working more hours per week had an impact on
my studies,” she told news.com.au.
The upside is that she can now afford to work less and focus on her social and university life, but the downside is that it isn’t easy to get laid.
Sure, she has time to date but where on earth is she going to seal the deal? Instead of finding her sex life exciting she finds sex a “stressful” experience, but only because her sex life is highly hindered by still living with her parents.
“It’s very difficult to find time to be intimate when you have your whole family home every night,” she said.
“You have to sneak around and make sure you’re really quiet and you’re always worried about someone hearing or walking in.”
In Hannah’s opinion being home-blocked is just part of living at home. Sure, you can wait until everyone leaves the house and try and get some alone time with a lover … but parents have a habit of coming back.
“My ex and I were watching a movie in the living room and my parents decided to join us to watch the movie. He had to go home at the end of the movie,” she shared.
So, no sex there.
Now she’s single, even attempting to have a sex life is complicated.
You aren’t going to want to introduce your family to some guy you are casually seeing or a one-night stand.
Instead she has to wait for moments where she is on her own, for instance, she managed to have sex “six weeks ago” but only because she was away in Europe on holidays.
Despite the sexual perils of living at home with mum and dad, it isn’t a situation she sees changing soon.
She only plans to move out when she secures a “stable” job and brings home at least “$65,000.”
Her story isn’t uncommon, *Jordan, 22, lives in Sydney and works full time, pulling in $65,000, but still lives at home because of how expensive everything is.
“Finances are the main reason I’m still living at home. I would love to move out close to where my parents live and where I’ve grown up but it’s becoming near impossible in Sydney,” he told news.com.au
Jordan explains that, while he thinks staying at home is best for his financial future, it isn’t helping his sex life.
He feels like living at home means he can’t “experience” a normal part of life without being “judged” by his ever present presents.
In an attempt to maintain a sex life, he keeps things away from home and instead tries to find hook-ups that have their own places.
Romantic right?
“Typically, I go to their place. I can’t remember the last time I had sex at home,” he admitted.
Jordan has learned the hard way that anything can happen when you invite a girl back to your place. By his place, he means his parent’s place.
“One time I had someone over, we were in my bedroom and things started getting spicy until my parents came home with a bunch of family friends from a party – about 20 of them in total,” he said.
“The girl hid in the closet and stayed in my room for 30 minutes while I had to go out and say hello to everyone. I managed to go back and sneak her out through the back door and
around the side of my house.
“I ended up walking up the street and calling her an Uber home. I haven’t seen her since.”
Gen Z might be setting up their financial futures by staying at home but it has led to the downfall of their sex lives.
*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.