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OP might have attended school in a conservative state where STD misinformation was used as part of an abstinence-only propaganda machine in high school health c

OP might have attended school in a conservative state where STD misinformation was used as part of an abstinence-only propaganda machine in high school health courses. That sort of STD fear-mongering is in fact unhelpful (because it's exactly that: fear-mongering without actionable advice). But you're right. As you move away from monogamy, sexual health becomes more important rather than less. When monogamous, you can kind of address the question of health once and mostly forget about it for the duration of the relationship (modulo a few exceptions -- HSV-1 and Hep are transmissible outside of sex, any sort of blood-blood contact should be thought of as roughly equivalent to unprotected sex, etc; you get the point, though). When non-monogamous, you have to think about STDs more like COVID in 2020 -- constant masking and regular testing as the default, and if you want to let your guard down it requires some special effort.

est31 5y ago
That's a fair point. What GP said came across a bit wrongly though, almost sounding like a covid denier just for STDs. STDs are a real thing, and they have profoundly negative impacts upon society. As to those teaching practices, they are horrible. Yes, in theory, "in the lab", abstinence does prevent STDs. But this doesn't work in real life. It can't ever inform the STD avoidance strategy taught to pupils, as enough people will have sex no matter what is taught to them. If they don't know how to reduce STDs when having sex, they will spread them more. The reaction should not be to discard STD avoidance though, but to do it properly. Which is sadly tougher in places in which promiscuous behaviour is shamed, as they usually have less availability for STD testing, buying protections, and people might feel ashamed or even be ostracized to seek out such places.

est31 5y ago

That's a fair point. What GP said came across a bit wrongly though, almost sounding like a covid denier just for STDs. STDs are a real thing, and they have profoundly negative impacts upon society. As to those teaching practices, they are horrible. Yes, in theory, "in the lab", abstinence does prevent STDs. But this doesn't work in real life. It can't ever inform the STD avoidance strategy taught to pupils, as enough people will have sex no matter what is taught to them. If they don't know how to reduce STDs when having sex, they will spread them more. The reaction should not be to discard STD avoidance though, but to do it properly. Which is sadly tougher in places in which promiscuous behaviour is shamed, as they usually have less availability for STD testing, buying protections, and people might feel ashamed or even be ostracized to seek out such places.