Millennials care more about their date's political alliance than great sex, claims new survey
According to a new report, people won't sleep with someone supporting an opposing political party these days. Nadine Anglesey, a native of the Bronx, said: "If I see somebody who’s like, 'I’m moderate or conservative,' I keep swiping."
The 33-year-old art director also said that she hasn't dated a conservative since the election took place in 2016 — even if she is attracted to the man. She told The New York Post: "Yesterday, this one guy [on the dating app Hinge] seemed really great ’til I saw he marked himself as conservative. I nipped that in the bud."
Anglesey is not alone when it comes to this type of preference. Whether a person is red or blue in the political sphere, most millennials have been seen as picking their party over the best sex of their lives, according to new research.
Data from OkCupid, according to The Post report, shows that the number of millennial men and woman who have prioritized their political party alliance to that of good sex has soared in numbers since 2016.
The matchmaking company took to surveying more than 8 million users and found out that the interest in dating someone with very similar political beliefs has gone up to 165% since 2004 while having great sex has decreased in priority by 30%. Between 2016 and 2018 in particular, the number of women who considered politics as more important than sex rose from 27% to 42% while it moved from 23% to 30% for men.
Manhattan sex therapist Megan Fleming thinks that the link between the political party choices and choices with sex partners is making people a little too comfortable. She said: "If you’re only exposing yourself to people who think like you, you’re living in a silo and missing out on opportunities."
Fleming also believes that less intellectual tension could be translated into less of that lustful spark in a relationship. She has encouraged her patients to get out of their comfort zones in their choice of partners.
This happened to be the just the case for 27-year-old Julie, who is a Brooklyn liberal and senior relations manager who had dated a Republican for three years.
Julie said for the politically opposite couple: "Everything was very extreme," including the sex. This held true especially after they had a frustrating and politically charged conversation. She said: "We’d have makeup sex that was better than normal." This wasn't, however, enough to hold the couple together and Julie now finds that going out with fellow liberals is "a breath of fresh air".
She did say that she misses the adventurous life she led with someone who was very different from herself.
Julie, who declined to give her full name for privacy reasons, said: "[We] enjoyed being challenged and challenging each other, and maybe that’s something I’m still looking for." The woman is now currently single and is open to being with a conservative again, depending on "his beliefs".
This also seems to prove true to someone of the opposite gender. 22-year-old Republican Adam Bandler says that a date's political beliefs aren't even an issue for him. The single NYU student said: "I don’t really care how someone politically identifies." He also added that "political ideology" isn't something that he "necessarily even considers" in a potential partner.
It is this kind of open-mindedness that could be great. Jen Winston from Williamsburg learned that the best way was when she had sex with someone whose politics she called "disgusting". The 30-year-old Democrat said: "The best sex I’ve ever had was with a guy who I’m fairly sure was a Republican."
"If I had known he was a Republican, I probably would not have engaged. But if I had known how good the sex was gonna be, I probably would have gone through with it still." Winston runs a feminist Instagram account called @girlpowersupply and she isn't feeling sorry about the party-line transgression. She said, after all: "Sex for pleasure is a form of self-care."