Nice recovery from my friends at The Economist.
The New York Times latched on to the curious vasectomy trend, though I found NYT’s Leslie Alderman less entertaining and thoughtful on the subject than CNN’s Ms. Park (the Basketball theory – c’mon, that is funny).
Vasectomy’s are not the final word, it seems. Men are conflicted. Curious.
Apparently, business at online dating sites is booming. At OkCupid (aimed at ‘a … casual, youthful crowd), there has been more than a 50% spike in registered, active users since April 2008. At eHarmony.com (20 million paying subscribers), a recent study found that ‘25% of women said stress about the state of the economy made them more inclined to seek a long-term relationship’. Also, visits to the website jump on days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls more than 100 points.
Theories:
1. As the economy slows, people have more time to devote to private lives.
2. Uncertain times increase the desire for companionship.
3. Living alone is expensive – find a mate and split the cost.
In the spirit of microeconomist Steven Levitt at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Mr. Freakonomics), The Economist article proposes a fourth, less naturally intuitive possibility: the boom is neither a nesting instinct nor desire to save money, but a desire ‘to do something that makes <people> feel better about themselves’.
So says Noel Biderman, who runs AshleyMadison.com, a subscription-based business model that arranges affairs (as seen on Dr. Phil and Larry King, per the website splash page, and also offers a 100% Affair Guarantee).
Apparently, ‘never before have so many people been looking for a bit on the side’.
A $49 subscription to AshleyMadison.com is less than the average co-pay required for a vasectomy.
Linda finds all this less amusing, though I apparently get a 2 for 1 – have an affair and get a vasectomy, though those were not precisely the words she used.
Hmm.