Why Sex and Money Will Make You Question Everything You Know
A look at why sex sells and money does not
I started writing consistently on Medium this past March as the coronavirus started changing everyone’s routine. My first thought was to write about articles on money. You could say I know a little bit about making money, investing, and finances. I have been a top writer in Bitcoin, Finance, and Money. Surprisingly, the money articles are usually my worst performing articles though a few have done well.
Then I was started to read that articles by writers who wrote about sex did well. The sex articles I came across would get thousands of claps. I was thinking to myself, really? Readers preferred sex over money?
Studies have shown that people should have different priorities. These are some recent statistics on how people manage their money.
- people owe $90,460 in debt
- people have saved $60,000 for retirement
- more people watch TV rather than getting a second job to improve their finances
Despite the numbers, most of the articles about money that I wrote did not work in my favor as a writer. I am a relatively new writer and don’t have a massive following. Maybe times will change one day but the money articles barely get any views from readers in general.
When I searched for writers who wrote about sex, I came across writer Holly Bradshaw. Holly started writing on Medium around February 2019. She has a little over 3,000 followers and the editor for her own publication naturally about sex, health, and relationships.
One article she published had exactly what I was looking for. She gave a breakdown of some of her best-performing articles. These are some snapshots of Holly’s earnings on articles about sex.
These are impressive stats for any writer. I considered writing about sex. Sure, I could write about this topic and easily bring in the big money. Sex is a hot topic whether it’s an article, book, online, or in person.
- Healthline says “sex is an important factor in your life”.
- The Insider says there are seven major benefits of sex and that sex is healthy.
While doing a quick Google search on sex books, the top articles were about what were the best books on sex, sexual positions, as well as videos on this topic. There are over 29 million people who read books on romance, 84% of these people are women.
Articles about sex or relationships seem to do well. To most people, sex ranks as a more important topic than money. According to Google trends, sex has more interest than money by about 25%. The only time money was more popular this year was in April as record layoffs and unemployment started to happen after the coronavirus outbreak.
The winner is…
Will money ever be more important than sex? That is a question that is hard to figure out. Even though people need money in general to keep up with inflation and have money in their savings, reading about money isn’t everyone’s favorite subject these days. More people prefer to read stories about sex.
Time will tell if the numbers flip. In times of a depression or recession, it is possible money becomes a trending topic again over sex. For now, sex continues to draw more interest.
It is interesting to note, that most schools teach some form of sex education. Education on money is not taught as much in comparison. From the start, writing articles on money could be a tougher challenge since most readers have had some form of sex education in their life.
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Tom Handy is a top writer on Medium, former Quora writer, and father of two kids. He retired from the Army and sits on several non-profit boards. You can find him on Twitter @tomhandy1 and his publication Life is Like a Game.
