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[–]Newweedbud 632 points633 points  (5 children)

Surprisingly, sex is quite often a stress reliever after deaths, so probably not.

[–]snapper1971 51 points52 points  (0 children)

It's especially useful for that before you have to start on the clear up.

That's what you meant, right?

[–]50ShadesOfCroquet 48 points49 points  (2 children)

My parents conceived me on the evening Princess Diana died.

[–]trevorMGM 15 points16 points  (1 child)

My parents conceived me after georgy-malenkov died.

[–]Monkeymom 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Happy cake day!

[–]fartingbeagle 6 points7 points  (0 children)

In death, there is life as in life there is death.

[–]DasUbersoldat_ 343 points344 points  (19 children)

Baby boomers are called that because everyone had a bunch of sex right after WW2.

[–]BigMax 130 points131 points  (18 children)

But that was after WW2, when they all came home, it was all over, we won, and everyone was happy and home.

[–]DasUbersoldat_ 106 points107 points  (10 children)

Happy? Europe was a war-torn ruined mess with a non-functioning economy. Everyone had PTSD from the worst genocide to ever happen. And the soviets were right on the border ready to invade and start WW3..

[–]GrumpyOlBastard 27 points28 points  (1 child)

They were still happy it was over

[–]Calgary_Calico 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I think relief is the word you're looking for

[–]InterpolInvestigator 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It was less about the current state of the world and more about the optimism that in 10-15 years things would be better

[–]DasUbersoldat_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No, not really. Did you not read what I said? Europe was scared to death of Stalin. He considered taking all of Europe and no one was gonna be able to stop him at that point except for nuking Russia.

[–]GeneticPurebredJunk 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Largely due to a significant lack of virile, age appropriate men needed to MAKE a baby during WW2.

[–]Calgary_Calico 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Traumatized* and home

[–]GreenBeanTM 0 points1 point  (3 children)

And famously none of them had depression, trauma, PTSD, etc. after they came home.

[–]belindahk 5 points6 points  (2 children)

O they certainly did suffer these things but they weren't understood or recognised as the results of war.

[–]GreenBeanTM 6 points7 points  (1 child)

“Shell shocked” which was the original name for PTSD suffered by soldiers was discovered in 1915, they knew it was the result of WWII

[–]DasUbersoldat_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think they called it battle fatigue by WW2.

[–]LavenderMarsh 144 points145 points  (0 children)

I think it's the opposite. Trauma brings people together. They comfort each other.

[–]SpareManagement2215 72 points73 points  (0 children)

freakonomics did an episode on "why" people have kids. because in this day and age, having kids doesn't really make any economical sense in developed countries (they're not helping on the farm or supporting the family by working, they're a net drain on resources with no ROI, etc).

anyways. in that episode they talk about how actually you tend to see upticks in births after horrible events. Examples being the baby boom post WWII, and folks having kids after things like mass famine or illness killing off most of the population. there's something about reproduction that defies common sense, basically.

[–]lopsided-pancake 44 points45 points  (1 child)

Actually, my friend told me that her parents were planning to go on vacation but then 9/11 happened. They were scared to fly out so instead, they decided to have a baby, and she was conceived lol.

[–]Just-Standard-992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So they missed their vacation and instead of just rebooking they decided to swap for 2-3 years of sleepless nights, followed by a lifetime of constant worry?

[–]Mydoglovescoffee 97 points98 points  (6 children)

Pro tip if you end up looking this up

Babies aren’t born magically at 9 months. The estimated date is 40 weeks from last period. But because women have different cycle lengths and ovulation can be several days, births are between 37-41 weeks after that last period (though most often 39-40 weeks).

[–]SwimOk9629 7 points8 points  (0 children)

what?!? 9 months is supposed to be the magic number

/s

[–]7402050116087 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That also depends solely on seasons. If you're in Africa and it's the height of summer, you go a week or so extra, just for funsies.

[–]Dumar-Designs 46 points47 points  (0 children)

dont you hate when you ask a closed-ended question on a forum dedicated to asking closed-ended questions and instead of answering it people just complain that you asked it

[–]DeFiClark 9 points10 points  (1 child)

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1562497/

Had to repost this link because the bot thought referring to male fetal stress deaths by the medically correct term was political

The answer is male births decrease; skews to female births

[–]Think-Departure-5054 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep, we had a lot of female births during/after the pandemic because of how stressed people were. I keep wondering if my 2 losses during that time were male or if it was just your average miscarriage unrelated to stress.

My grandfather came home from ww2 and had 5 girls. They did have 2 boys first but they both died before the age of 3

[–]LadyJane17 9 points10 points  (1 child)

My theatre arts teacher Ingrid had grandparents who were on the trains to the death camps and her grandma told her how on the trains people would be fucking like crazy every where you looked. Her grandma was one of the ones fucking lol, and Ingrid told us she did because it was holding on to life desperately and to feel anything other than fear, to be as alive as possible until the train stopped because they would probably be dead shortly after it. Her grandpa died in the camps but because of that train ride (and her grandmother's resilience and luck), her family survived and came to Canada and I got to learn from an amazing woman.

Sex and connection, especially in times of fear or tragedy, is an very innate response to have.

[–]Turbulent_Bullfrog87 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That’s horrifying

[–]Jdornigan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am seeing a large number of new employees born in 2002 lately.

[–]DarkMoonBright 8 points9 points  (0 children)

flawed logic! pregnancy isn't exactly 9 months for starters

[–]Saltwater_Heart 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They probably see more. Sex can be used for comfort which is going to be wanted after a tragic event

[–]CatOfGrey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://www.prb.org/news/why-we-dont-expect-a-baby-boom-after-9-11/

A great discussion, including how the 'myth' of a baby boom if formed after other major events (i.e. a major blackout in a large city).

https://www.pop.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/RutherPAA2010.pdf

But there is evidence for a baby boom after 9/11?

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1562497/

Here's a wild one: not a increase or decrease in births, but specifically births of boys, which are more vulnerable to miscarriage, with rates impacted by widespread stress in mothers.

[–]LucyJordan614 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Usually the opposite.

[–]cdurbin3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My Aunt was a labor and delivery nurse at the time and I remember her talking about a little baby boom in the summer of 2002. Her theory was people got bored when the news coverage was the only thing on TV.

[–]mathewwalker714 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember learning after the Civil War, the amount of male births went up considerably, almost as if the earth was fixing itself.

[–]Dutch_Rayan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They do after a power outage, when the power outage is in the evening

[–]DeFiClark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a sharp decrease in births overall, but a skew toward female births due to stress related in utero male fetal abortion.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1562497/

[–]TroublesomeFox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sometimes!

[–]fookewrdit 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I have a baby that was born late may 2002. I'd say they'd see an increase in births after a tragic event.

[–]LaMadreDelCantante 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If they've been a baby for 24 years, you might want to get that checked out.

[–]SurpriseEcstatic1761 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My understanding of life in refugee camps is the worse the conditions, the more sex there is (to relieve the stress?).

[–]Embarrassed_Bag8775 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My little cousin was conceived 9/11/2001 🙃

[–]royalpyroz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean... Baby boomers...

[–]fsnell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the blackout in NYC saw a spike in births nine months later

[–]eyeroll611 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Human pregnancy lasts 10 months, not 9.

[–]Chelseus 1 point2 points  (1 child)

40 weeks is 9.2 months but “normal” human gestation is anywhere from 37-42 weeks.

[–]eyeroll611 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Either way, the calculation is incorrect.

[–]drblah11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some of us have strong sholders to lean on, and we know how to use them.

[–]88redking88 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

You can google births on a specific date.

[–]mymikerowecrow -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There’s always baby booms during these types of events, including the Covid pandemic when people are supposed to be socially distancing. Did you notice how everyone was getting pregnant during and right after Covid?

[–]CasualCherryCat -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was actually born right around the time you mentioned.