The first quarter of 2009 was one of the worst on record for car dealers, airlines, retailers, and Brooke*, 24, a paralegal in Texas. In January she and her boyfriend called it quits. In February she was pink-slipped. And in March she was forced to move out of the apartment she could no longer afford. So when a friend in Austin 
invited her to the city’s annual music festival that month, she had a natural response: “I was like, ‘Fuck it—I need to get laid!’ and hopped in my car,” she says. Less than 24 hours later, she made good on her mission: “I saw a drummer onstage and said ‘I want that.’ After his set I weaseled next to him in line for the bathroom, and he came in with me just long enough to slip a hand up my skirt, push my panties aside, and do me from behind.” Over the next few days, a tour manager followed (“in his hotel suite Jacuzzi”), as did a local bartender (“in his stock room—so dirty”). And so began Brooke’s new career as a full-time sex goddess.

If you’re looking for the upside of the economic downturn, here it is: Women are horny as hell. You’d think that living in perpetual dread of being laid off would make our libidos shrink like our 401(k)s. Paradoxically, though, this acute anxiety may have the opposite effect. “Fear elevates dopamine levels,” says biolog-ical anthropologist Helen Fisher, Ph.D. “For some people, going through a traumatic experience can actually stimulate their sex drives.” Circumstantial evidence backing up that claim: Condom sales ballooned by five percent at the end of last year. There’s even been a spike in 
online sex ads. Postings in Craigslist’s “casual encounters” leaped from 1.4 million in October 2007 to 3.1 million in October 2008. A typical one from a female poster: “Down in the dumps during this recession, layoffs at work, more stressful at my job, weather sucks…is there any cute, down-to-earth, d/d-free guy out there willing to let me forget about all this BS for a night?”

This heightened craving for sexual release reminds Trina, 30, a graphic designer, of the apocalyptic “grab someone and screw them while you can” mentality that was prevalent post-9/11. “I’m letting myself have a lot more fun,” she says, adding that by March she’d been with more guys than she would in a typical 12 months. “All this depressing news just makes you want a human connection—and sex is 
definitely the easiest way to get it.” So if you’ve been laid off and are moping around licking your wounds, take note: It’s time to get out of the breadline and back in the game. The sex of your life could be right around the corner.

Misery Loves Company
According to the newly unemployed women I interviewed, their sudden freedom has liberated more than just their schedules. The week after Bonnie, 23, was let go from her job at a Web site, day-drinking with friends led to her first-ever one-afternoon stand. “When we woke up afterward, at 5 p.m., I was a little mortified,” she says. “But the sex was amazing.”

Of course, unemployment lines aren’t the only places to find raging female libidos; one could be in the next cube. Alexis, a 27-year-old financial analyst in New York, was working 15-hour days last fall after her department had been downsized to just two people. But the high-stress situation led her to crunch more than numbers with her coworker. “We were so tense that we just snapped one night,” she says. “We ended up having sex under my desk in my office. He had to cover my mouth so the cleaning lady wouldn’t hear me moaning.”

In fact, dozens of women I talked to across the country report relying on sexual healing more than ever these days. Think about it: As stress relievers go, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than meds, the gym, or a shrink—and may even be more effective. Stuart Brody, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of The West of Scotland, has found that people experience less tension and better moods for a full 24 hours after intercourse. That’s right, masturbation doesn’t produce the same effect—meaning there’s never been a better time to offer a woman your services.