But in 2022, the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade\u2019s 50-year precedent on the constitutional right to an abortion, marked the start of an evolving reproductive reality that has infiltrated the bedroom, said Carter Sherman, a reproductive health and justice reporter at The Guardian. More than one in 10 single people under 50 say they are having less sex<\/a> as a result of the Dobbs decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think sex feels really fraught for young people right now,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cSo many people express a very high sense of anxiety around sex and what it means. \u2026 And I think that this is fueled in large part by our politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sherman will be speaking on the Why Isn\u2019t Gen Z Having Sex? How Politics Invaded the Bedroom<\/a> panel at South by Southwest on March 15. The panel was inspired by the findings of her June 2025 book, The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation\u2019s Fight Over Its Future, which explores the sex lives of young adults in a post-Roe America.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is: What does it mean to have all these political and technological changes going on at once?\u201d Sherman asked. \u201cTheoretically, young people are more sex saturated than ever, but at the same time, their government is moving to repress their ability to actually have sex that is queer, is unmarried, is recreational.\u201d<\/p>\n Today\u2019s teens and young adults are coming of age at a time where a high degree of political polarization runs rampant, Sherman said. Young women are the most progressive group<\/a> in American history, while young men continue trending toward the right. Simultaneously, the U.S. is experiencing a rise in what Sherman calls \u201csexual conservatism\u201d \u2013 a movement that increases political suppression around sex by making it difficult, \u201cif not dangerous,\u201d to have unmarried, non-heterosexual sex due to subpar access to reproductive care.<\/p>\n As an epicenter for highly restrictive, conservative policy<\/a> surrounding sexual and reproductive rights, Texas cultivates an atmosphere where these sentiments thrive. In fact, Texas teens are some of the most restricted in the country when it comes to reproductive decision making, said Lucie Arvallo, executive director of Jane\u2019s Due Process<\/a>, an Austin-based abortion fund that serves minors. In addition to a total abortion ban without exception for rape or incest, Texas criminalizes abortion pills<\/a> and requires parental consent for birth control<\/a>, among other restrictions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have this web of restrictions that work together to create an environment of fear and stigma for young people seeking information,\u201d said Arvallo, who will speak at The Abortion Highway: Abortion Funds & Texas Abortion Toll<\/a> panel on March 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the Dobbs decision, this volatile environment has sown confusion about what sexual and reproductive health care options are or are not available to young adults, Arvallo said. And in a digital era, where social media allows for a constant stream of information and the habit to increasingly turn<\/a> to the internet for health education, this confusion is often exacerbated.<\/p>\n As the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Evvy<\/a>, a precision health care company that offers individuals vaginal microbiome tests, Laine Bruzek has experienced firsthand the difficulty in breaking through the noise. Evvy, like many women\u2019s health companies, frequently deals with ad rejections and algorithmic censorship on platforms like Meta and Google that flag for inappropriate content. But post-Roe, Bruzek said she has noticed an increase in ads rejected for content about social issues<\/a>, despite simply discussing women\u2019s health topics, like OB-GYNs.<\/p>\n \u201cOur education, where we are actually talking about vaginal health, and we\u2019re using the correct anatomical terms, or we are talking about infections \u2026 that will get blocked,\u201d she said. \u201cSo there\u2019s an interesting challenge of making sure that the sort of science-backed information actually can get through in a time when a lot of misinformation has no problem getting through.\u201d<\/p>\n Bruzek will speak on the Say Vagina: Platform Censorship, Algorithms, and the Cost to Women\u2019s Health<\/a> panel on March 18.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As young people navigate this changing climate surrounding sexual and reproductive health, they play a crucial role in shaping its future, said Christina Chang, executive director of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance<\/a>, who will be speaking at The Real Fight Is Local: Repro Freedom State by State<\/a> panel on March 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need their energy. We need their organization, and we need their votes to be able to point out the vision for the world that they want to live in,\u201d Chang said. \u201cThey have the power to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n While this \u201csex recession\u201d is influenced by a variety of accompanying cultural and technological factors, politics play no small part in cultivating it, Sherman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do think it\u2019s really important for people to understand that what happens in state legislatures, what happens in courtrooms, what happens in Congress, what happens in the White House \u2013 that can have [an impact] on what happens in your bedroom,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cSex is not something that just occurs between two people in private. It is something that is shaped by societal forces around that bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SX26_InnovationCircle.png\")
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