Too Much Of An Inconvenience?
Posted by terrepruitt on January 23, 2019
You may have read that I get my father’s magazines also, our neighbor had a business, but doesn’t any more, but he still gets the magazines he had subscribed to for his lobby, and he gives them to us. So we get a lot of magazines. Most of them I don’t read, I just take them to the community centers “bring a book – take a book” shelves. But I saw a title as I was putting one in my “to go” pile that I thought would make an interesting blog post. The article’s title was “why isn’t anyone using condoms anymore?”
Well, Cosmopolitan surveyed 2000 18 to 25 year olds and only 30 percent of them had used a condom the last time they had sex. Aside from being 98 percent effective against pregnancy condoms help stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, but, according to this little survey the participants aren’t worried about STDs. The survey didn’t give the reasons the participants weren’t concerned, but in the same section the article mentioned that chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis can be treated with antibiotics. So perhaps these people surveyed figured STDs aren’t a big deal because they can be cured? Even though herpes and HIV cannot. And not to mention what can happen as a result of having one of these diseases. Some of the STDs can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and infertility.
And the article even starts out by saying “Nearly 20 millions Americans are projected to get an STI (I guess they don’t even call them STDs any more!) this year.” It also says that “for the past four years in a row, the U.S. has consistently broken its own STI records.” There were 200,000 more cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in 2017 than in 2016 (which was 2.3 million). And think about it, those are just the reported numbers.
The article also stated that 61 percent of the people participating in the survey said they would use a condom if they knew their partner had an STI . . . really? I must be old fashioned because I think I wouldn’t be having sex with them until that was taken care of all together.
Other information the article stated:
Seventy-two percent said they respect a partner who asks to use one.
One reason they don’t use them is because they don’t like throwing them away.
Menstruation and birth control pills were other reasons (they couldn’t get pregnant).
The article also had some information about four dotcom companies that check for various STDs so you don’t even have to go to the doctor. You can just send a sample in and get results back.
I guess I just thought that avoiding pregnancy and STDs was important enough to use a condom. With everyone wanting to be healthy by not eating gluten, not eating dairy, not eating meat, running 5Ks and 10Ks, and doing things like yoga, . . . . I just assumed that “safe”/protected sex went along with that. It is another way to stay healthy. I think those 72% that said they would respect a partner that asks, should start asking.
How about you? Do any of these figures surprise you?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
Walk the Goats said
The percentages are a surprise. Thanks for summarizing.
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terrepruitt said
I guess I just assumed people CARED about getting STDs (STIs) so they would protect themselves.
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WTG said
That’s what I would’ve thought too.
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terrepruitt said
🙂
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