Very interesting and well-written article, Devon. The stories in the responses are quite interesting too. I’ve got another twist on the situation to share. I have lived many years under different sexual-preference labels, hetero, omni, and now asexual. (Being transsexual ties up in it, but that is not a sexual preference.) Through all of it, I never felt any sexual pressures of the type you describe. Based on my observations, it seems that people fit into two buckets along an orthogonal axis: those who are sexually active, and those who are not. The sexually active people have great radar for each other, and they hit on each other and get together all the time. Even in public restrooms, sometimes. The non-sexually active people, many of whom really really would like to be sexually active, are simply left out in the cold. Ever heard the old saw, “The only people who are monogamous are those who have no opportunities to stray”? Those who have no opportunities, those are us non’s. I guess “incels” are also, though most of us non’s are not angry or violent or outward-blaming about it. I cannot see any correlation with intro/extroversion, religous upbringing, looks, being a jerk or not, etc.; it seems pretty randomly distributed. There just seems to be the sexual have’s and have-not’s in this world. Asexual has been a good place for me to wind up!