Last week, the Washington Post published an article titled, “Americans aren’t getting married, and researchers think porn is part of the problem.” Presumably working with the hypothesis that the only possible reason any young man would want to marry in the first place is for the sexual gratification, or rather “marital sexual gratification,” the study suggests that  they’re not getting married because of the deep and lasting satisfaction they are finding with ‘Internet Pornography.’ The study says:

Substitutes for marital sexual gratification may impact the decision to marry. Proliferation of the Internet has made pornography an increasingly low-cost substitute. We investigate the effect of Internet usage, and of pornography consumption specifically, on the marital status of young men. We show that increased Internet usage is negatively associated with marriage formation. Pornography consumption specifically has an even stronger effect.

While it is true that reports have said that marriage rates are at an all-time low, it is a leap, to state it mildly, that young men viewing pornography is the cause. That said, what possible disincentives could there be, taking the point of view of a young man for the sake of argument, to marrying at all, and why does the porn-is-destroying-civilization argument not make sense? The reasons may have to do with economics more than sex. This goes for both sexes. If one party has built up a career and some property, for example, and has a good deal to lose, that could be a deterrent to marrying in the first place. How could someone lose?

1. No-fault divorce. It used to be that you could not just go in and get a divorce. You had to have a reason. This led to all sorts of accusations about cheating and the like. This mess eventually led to legislation to prevent things like “She’s a whore,” and “He’s an asshole.”  Now, no reason must be given, making divorce easier to obtain.

2. There are legal and financial advantages to the losing party, depending on the state of residence and duration of the marriage, in the event of divorce, that leads some to think it’s a bad idea to get married at all. This alone is apparently a huge talking point among young men who are currently hesitant to jump into marriage.

3. The utterly ridiculous premise of the study cited in the Washington Post can simply be refuted with the pill. It is not as if young men and women are limited to either marital sex, or else men viewing pornography (but not women).

4. Women in particular now have expanded opportunities in career and workforce advancement. Men may also have these opportunities. However, many of these folks are saddled with debt and living with their parents or someplace on the cheap, while they a) work for free in an internship that will lead to an eventual career or b) compete for entry-level jobs with all of the other folks with advanced degrees who are scraping by while they claw their way to realize their career, eventually. Given the incredible investment that it now takes to get to a point of stability, people likely look at divorce rates and seriously re-think whether getting married is worth it.

5. In short, it’s the economy.

There may be many other reasons that people are hesitant to get married currently, which makes a good controlled study difficult to design and perform. Internet pornography does not stand out as a viable or legitimate one of them.

Americans aren’t getting married, and researchers think porn is part of the problem