Dollars and Sex
by Dr Marina Adshade
Allen & Unwin
Canadian Economics lecturer Dr Marina Adshade argues that almost everything connected with matters of sex and love can be better understood by applying an economic framework. Her entertaining thesis looks at three stages of sexual behaviour: the young, wild and free in an age of cyber-dating; the married ones deciding who is to be on top and the cost-benefit analysis of having sex in the sunset years.
Her theories are more complex than simply a matter supply and demand and she’s made some fascinating discoveries about the sex lives of both heterosexual and homosexual people. And she must have had quite a bit of fun thinking up her titles such as: “How Online Dating Differs From Buying Sweets”, “Boob Jobs Indicate a Perkier Economy”, “Money Can Buy Love” and “Does Monogamy Drive Us to Drink?”
Market forces beyond our control affect sexual choices we make. Adshade draws on studies that show the connections between education and pregnancy; promiscuity and marriageability and how legalising same-sex marriage made the gay community less promiscuous.
She looks at the economics of the sex trade and connection between the price of alcohol and the number of people who have contracted sexually transmitted infections. In looking at the relationship between economics and marriage, she notes that wealthier countries are more tolerant of same-sex pairings. Ever wondered how America, or Australia for that matter, came to accept same-sex marriage in such a relatively short time?
It is interesting to see how women have gained greater bargaining power in their relationships with their greater economic freedom and how men have resorted to importing women from disadvantaged countries to fulfill ‘traditional wifely roles’.
Young Chinese women have found that there are greater economic benefits in prostitution than marriage and young gay men realise the bargaining power they have with older men. She discovers that lesbians are better savers and she finds there is a correlation between economic downturn and the sale of personal lubricants and sex toys.
We knew that infidelity had a cost and Adshade is able to supply the formula. She uses economics to explain why sexually transmitted infections are on the rise in young people, and those over 50, even though people are being less sexually active. She looks at the relationship between rising rates of casual sex and the widening earning gap and how economics has affected swingers’ clubs. Maths was never this interesting when I was at high school! Read Dollars and Sex to find out all about your currency on the love market.
Lezly Herbert
