Young people having casual sex is the natural state of not just civilization, but the entire human species.

I think there is an argument that civilization as we have come to know it was not based on casual sex, rather pair-bonding.

No, not really. The modern western form of treating sex primarily as an entertainment activity is very much a new thing. Previously we had marriage and other cultural practices that aimed to channel these forces in productive directions. Now we just have PornHub and Tinder.

I’m not a historian but aren’t those tightly controlled cultural practices a relatively modern invention? Certainly the ancients were known to have orgies (presumably for fun). People have observed how the 20th century was for many people a return to their “true” nature (eg free love, drugs, rave parties). Maybe it’s just always been true that, when their wealth/resources allow for it, people like to have sex for fun.

The ancients had orgies as a part of religious mystery cults. Those weren’t widespread to the level that Tinder is today.

The birth control pill also enabled many of these attitudes, so it almost by definition wasn’t a return to their “true nature.”

But yes of course people like having sex. What’s new is that this pleasure-focused view of it has become the dominant one, to the exclusion of all others.

I was pushing back to your assertion that viewing sex as entertainment is primarily a modern and western viewpoint. Certainly the west’s view of sex has changed in the past 100 years. However I would not be surprised if the current view is actually more in line with historical attitudes toward sex, not less.

Afaik, no. Before contraception, sex meant babies. Babies meant someone to feed and work for. Kids were always an expense for years, it takes at least 7-8 years till they sorta kinda can earn for themselves.

Traditional cultures would do a lot to control the sex of their unmarried daughters, because that would mean babies to care for and that means a lot of additional troubles.

Urban human cultures are another story however, because of the near-ubiquitous practice of slavery for most of urban human history.

Slavery may imply rape, but it does not imply the casual for fun consensual sex we are talking about here.

Also, slavery is somehow tied to urban? Does not ring true to me.

Yes, mispoke scoping strictly to urban cultures, truly wherever you have agricultural practices that grant abundance really, since subsistence living makes keeping extra mouths to feed around a much greater burden.

And certainly there was no such thing as backroom abortions, bastard sons, and the world's oldest profession, right?

All of those things occurred at much smaller percentages than they do today. Abortions especially.

They also weren’t seen as the primary purpose of sex.

Today, if you say something like “Sex is important and should only be done between people that are getting married, since it correlates with lower divorce rates”, most people will think you’re strange.

citation needed

It amuses me when people wax poetic about a time long past, when people were chaste and pure. Ha! Hormones be hormones, and young people have been doing what they do for as long as there have been young people.

Do you think that social media, smart phones, and the Internet have had zero effect on behavior?