New 'climaxxing' trend hailed as end to the 'sex recession'

People are calling a new trend a way to encourage people to have more sex as fewer people are having sex.

You may have noticed the new '-maxxing' trends circulating on social media in recent months.

These actually date back significantly further, having their roots in gaming and incel culture.

The idea is that when you play a video game you have a certain number of points to spend on certain characteristics like strength or charisma.

Rather than going for a balanced approach, some players will max out one characteristic at the expense of the others, so get a character who's very strong but not very smart, or very charismatic but weak.

Now, the '-maxxing' trend has taken this idea and applied it real life, with people picking something and then adding the suffix to it to indicate that this it the thing that they're focussing on.

'Climaxxing' is the latest '-maxxing' trend (PeopleImages/Getty)

So there's 'looksmaxxing', for physical appearance, 'moneymaxxing' to try and get more money, and of course 'ballmaxxing' where people try and make their balls larger. Yes, that's real.

But now anew '-maxxing' trend is coming, literally, and even comes with a fun portmanteau to make it even more catchy - 'climaxxing'.

The trend is touted as a way to solve a supposed drought in sex as fewer people are sexually active, in particular younger people.

Although it might sound like someone is really going for it in the bedroom, 'climaxxing' is not necessarily about going at it all the time.

Instead, the idea is that people view having regular sex, including solo sex, as something that's good for your health, like going to the gym or going for a jog.

It suggests that rather than pushing it back people should see sexual pleasure as a part of their routine.

Lemon Meyer is a sex writer and also works as the editorial manager at the erotic audio platform Bloom Stories, and told Vice: “We often underestimate the importance of sex and intimacy for our wellbeing.

“Making time for intimacy is crucial for our overall well-being, but it often slips down the to-do list.”

The trend encourages people to regularly make time for intimacy (Maskot/Getty)

So, the practice is less about big moments as it's about having small, regular moments of intimacy, and in doing that you build a habit of looking after your sexual wellbeing.

In an age where someone could in theory arrange a casual hookup just as easily as ordering a pizza, there have been a lot of articles written about how many people instead seem to be turning away from this.

It's not quite clear what exactly is causing this, though having to trawl through dating apps along with the bombardment of inappropriate messages and media may be enough for people to simply not bother anymore.

So, might a more mindful and small, incremental approach to sex be a way to stop this?