Since the OP weighed in that this was a good restating of his points, I’ll respond to these.
Absolutely agreed. Relationships provide a plethora of benefits to both individuals and to any children that may result. Society should, to a certain degree, encourage men and women to enter relationships.
I dunno. Purely anecdotal, but I know plenty of men who aren’t getting laid as much as they did when they were single or early in their relationships, yet they’re still in them. Yes, they complain about it, but I’m not sure if that alone is necessarily going to be a deal breaker, especially if the rest of the relationship is generally good and the other benefits are still there too (economic stability, sharing of responsibility, kids, etc).
Also, I think the idea that men are more interested in sex is pretty out-dated. Men are more likely to talk about it and be aggressive to seek it and may need it somewhat more often, but I think women are just as disappointed when they’re not getting sex either. A sexless relationship is going to be disappointing to both parties.
Also, part of the situation is that, in general, women have more power when it comes to getting laid. In a relationship, how many men try to initiate sex and get turned down by their female partners versus women who try to initiate sex and get turned down by their male partners? Or similarly, imagine a man alone in a bar and a woman he considers attractive proposes he come back to her place; now imagine a woman in the same situation being propositioned by a man. I suspect there’s a lot more of the former accepting than the latter.
In today’s society, for one so inclined, no-strings-attached sex is easy to come by free in most places. There’s phone apps specifically for hooking up. Obviously, one might have issues with that if one’s standards are out of alignment and there’s potentially issues with disease and pregnancy, but it really it’s pretty easy. Plenty of people risk that anyway.
In that regard, it strikes me that legalized prostitution might even make this better because it could, properly regulated, provide some degree of protection against disease, pregnancy, and not to mention the well-fare of the women involved
I don’t think this follows. Maybe there’s men who are more or less happy with various aspects of their relationship EXCEPT for the sex part. Maybe if they were able to get that satisfaction elsewhere they’d be more willing to stay in an otherwise good relationship (at least from an economic stability and child rearing aspect). And, frankly, if the only reason a man is staying in a relationship is because it gives him access to regular sex, is that really a guy worth having around? If it’s that bad, is there even regular sex still going on?
It seems like a wash to me. Yes, men who are only drawn to relationships for sex are less inclined to enter them, but they were also likely bad partners to begin with. If the only way you can attract a partner is with your ability to provide sex, maybe you need to put in some effort to make yourself more attractive, least of all in a sexual way, but in terms of your personality, your expectations, your aspirations, career, whatever.
As it is, the age at which people are settling down into relationships is getting older. Lots of people, men and women, are starting to play the field at younger ages and realizing the benefits of stable relationships when they get older. How stable can it really be if it’s just sex that’s holding it together? And even still, it seems weird to me to think that of the men that aren’t already not in relationships because of porn or casual sex and not already cheating will just suddenly decide to leave an otherwise stable relationship or cheat on their wife because now they have access to legal prostitution.
It strikes me very much like the argument against legalizing pot because of the people who are currently not smoking only because it’s illegal, nevermind that so many people already are and there’s plenty of other drugs or legal ways to get high, whether it’s alcohol or prescription drugs or various other non-controlled substances. Maybe a few people who were only deterred by that might give in, but chances are if they would have issues with pot, they probably already have some other kind of addiction, alcohol, cigarettes, porn, gambling, whatever.
It still seems to me, though, that overwhelmingly prostitution will still be looked down on, especially for those already in a relationship. And for men like me and most that I know, we have no interest in it and it wouldn’t change my views toward a relationship. Hell, if anything, it removes those likely undesirable partners from the dating pool and gives men looking for more than just sex a better shot. So maybe slightly few total relationships, but probably also meaning more of those formed are likely going to be more stable.