Nearly 20 million people are diagnosed with an STI every year in the U.S. alone. Now, a new survey, sponsored by Superdrug Online Doctor, has asked 2,000 people from the U.S. and the U.K. about their attitudes towards venereal diseases like herpes, chlamydia, and syphilis, and how they influence their opinions and behaviors.
Related: Overzealous Shaving Could Raise Risk Of STIs By 440%, Study Says
The good news: People are pretty honest when it comes to disclosing their STI history. Only 1% of gay people said they’ve lied to a partner about having an STI, as compared to 2% of straight people, and 3% of bisexuals.
Now, the bad news: One in two sexually active Americans will contract an STI by the time they’re 25, but fewer than one-third said they get routinely tested, which totally explains the uptick in chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and herpes in recent years. Even more concerning, 42% of U.S. respondents and 62% of U.K. respondents said they don’t even ask new partners if they’ve ever tested positive for an STI.
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Other less encouraging news: STI stigma appears to be alive and well. Only 27% of straight people said they’d consider dating someone with an STI, as compared to 42% of gay people and 47% of bisexuals. In the U.S., respondents said they considered syphilis to be the “most severe” STI. While in the U.K., people said chlamydia was the worst of the offenders. FYI: Both of those STIs are totally curable and treatable.
Related: Guess How Many People Still Think You Can Catch HIV From A Toothbrush
Lastly, researchers looked at condom use.
It turns out both gay and straight people use condoms at about the rate. 50% of gays and 51% of straights said they use protection more often than not. Meanwhile, 60% of bisexuals said they use condoms regularly.
So what’s the takeaway from all this? According to researchers, “Understanding your partner’s sexual health – as well as your own – is an important part of promoting healthy sexual habits. Don’t let fear or embarrassment get in the way of having an open conversation about your sexual health and any sexual conditions you may be experiencing.”
So how do these results match up with your perceptions and behaviors? Sound off in the comments section below.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
And 99.9% of joemygod readers will defend the intentional spread of an STD. So does Joe. Just another fun fact.
Danny279
It’s great to see that a majority of LGB people would not consider dating someone with an STI. Note that it is a minority even when they are asked whether they would “consider” dating a person with an STI; had they been asked about actually dating an STI-infected person, presumably the number would be even smaller.
This shows a growing refusal by LGB people to normalize sexually transmitted disease in their lives and it is consistent with the rise of monogamy among GB men, which has been a trend since the late 1970s, and which rapidly accelerated shortly after the turn of the century. STIs will continue to exist, of course, but increasingly, that problem and others will concentrate in an ever-shrinking minority subgroup of GB men and B women.
DuMaurier
The answer is: very possibly; and what idiot takes someone’s word for it in the first place???
ChrisK
@Danny279: Wow. You’re totally insane. Monogamy or promiscuity hasn’t changed at all and neither is right or wrong. The only truth is that when people get older it’s natural they become less promiscuous.
ChrisK
@IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou: Still butt hurt that Joe kicked you off his site?
ChrisK
@DuMaurier: I’ve never once asked. What’s the point? I protect myself and use common sense. Never failed me once.
Chris
The problem with these sorts of surveys is that people tend to respond in socially desirable ways. Hence, they systematically underestimate the rate of lying that takes place.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
@ChrisK: Oh I’m still around. I’ve notices he’s not publically supporting bug spreading now and won’t even print a story about bug spreaders, to avoid all of you supporting them. Guess he doesn’t like it when he gets called out in public and can’t run from his own words.
ErikO
@IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou: Very true, Joe “homo quotable” Jervis is HIV+ and into doing it raw, and has had other STDs as he wrote about this when his blog was a sex blog. I’m still surprised he’s still alive considering he probably has multiple strains of HIV.
Mark
They are lying about it…do you know how many gays publish on Craig’s List, Grindr, Scruff, etc. that they are DDF but looking to give BJ’s only to “straight” “married” “DDF”, etc. only meaning they have something which is manageable but not willing o admit it…
ChrisK
@ErikO: Go suck on a shotgun and pull the trigger asshole. Finnish your parents mistake.
ChrisK
@IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou: Put down the meth pipe. No one’s ever supported “bug spreading” on JMG much less even reported on it.
Danny279
@ChrisK: Actually, rates of monogamy and promiscuity vary widely across time and geography. Both are responsive to changes in the social environment, and the mix of social incentives and disincentives applicable to each. For GB men in Western nations, there has been a marked increase in monogamy beginning slowly and steadily 40 years ago and accelerating after the year 2000. And that the most monogamous age group among GB men is the Millennials (18-35), so this is not about a declining interest in sex that accompanies old age.
Kangol
@ChrisK: Your comment made me fall out of my seat with laughter! Thank you for your response to Mr. One-Size-Fits-All-Monogamy-Warrior.
ErikO
@ChrisK: I am not suicidal, but you are a troll and your parents hate you and never wanted you. Nice projection of your own issues onto me. What I wrote is true, but you are too young to remember when it was a sex blog and Joe Jervis would write all about doing it raw.
Heywood Jablowme
@Danny279: “And that the most monogamous age group among GB men is the Millennials (18-35)”
CITATION PLEASE!
Gee, I guess Grindr went out of business and Queerty forgot to mention it?
Heywood Jablowme
@ChrisK: @Kangol: Danny is such a romantic. He keeps his “boyfriend” locked up in the basement so he can’t go out and get an STI.
Danny never has anything good to say about monogamy per se, except that it’s a way to avoid STIs. That’s not even necessarily true, as some get HIV or other STIs from a genuinely monogamous, but undiagnosed partner.
1898
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had guys on the various apps send me pics of their buttholes, and huge warts are clearly visible but their profile proudly proclaims that they’re “DDF.” Maybe they don’t know what DDF actually stands for…?
I believe that most people don’t lie, but I also believe there are a lot of people who are ignorant (in some cases willfully) and/or not properly educated on sexual health.
ErikO
@1898: True, I know a gay man that has HPV up his ass and it was apparently removed but he claims he’s “clean” and “DDF” but he told me he stopped practicing receptive anal sex because of the HPV.
Heywood Jablowme
@ErikO: “HPV is so common that most sexually-active men and women will get at least one type of HPV at some point in their lives.” – official CDC site, https://www.cdc.gov/STD/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm
So even a saint like you may have acquired HPV at one point.
It’s interesting how you, ErikO, hate sluts so much and yet you “know” so many of them and you always “know” all the most intimate and exotic and embarrassing details of your slutty friends’ sex lives.
Aside from that, your imaginary friend was wise to stop having anal sex without a condom!
Masc Pride
Heteros don’t have to worry about STIs the same way gay men do, so that luxury is most likely behind the “stigma” (I think it’s a bit unfair and dramatic to label it stigma in the context of transmittable and potentially life-threatening diseases). Interesting that bisexuals are more open to dating a person with an STI. I would’ve thought the bi percentage would’ve been closer to the hetero percentage.