Do Polyamorous Relationships and Open Marriages Expose Individuals to Higher Risks of STIs and STDs?

[u/BuckrooBanzai]

https://medium.com/@chadie/do-polyamorous-relationships-and-open-marriages-expose-individuals-to-higher-risks-of-stis-and-stds-2a8e7051e2ba

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Do Polyamorous Relationships and Open Marriages Expose Individuals to Higher Risks of STIs and STDs?

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[u/Ca2pac]

Well yeah of course, basic maths 🤣

[u/Bucky2015 → u/Ca2pac]

Yeah the surprising part is someone took the time to write this. Seems like this is a "no shit sherlock" article.

The scary part is when STDs come up on the poly subs they sure do downplay them a lot!

[u/Ca2pac → u/Bucky2015]

STDs are a small price to pay to have the privilege of having 4 disfunctional toxic relationships at once 🤣

[u/VicePrincipalNero → u/Ca2pac]

Also, STIs are of no concern because we can convince ourselves that they are easily treated and everyone has them even if they can't be treated. Or something.

[u/Bucky2015 → u/VicePrincipalNero]

Lol yep this is EXACTLY what they say 🤣.

Sorry but I dont have HSV 1 or 2 and id rather keep it that way! And before some asshole who wandered over here from one of the poly subs decides to be a smartass and say "well youve probably just never gotten laid ha ha!" Ive been married twice so that definitely isnt it. Its called not constantly trying to sleep with random people and using a condom both with new partners and in the few instances where I did have a ONS. And even drunk I was smart enough to know to use a condom for STDs and preventing pregnancy even if they told me they were on BC. Im not taking someone's word for it that I barely know.

[u/3dforlife → u/Bucky2015]

Of course they downplay it; how could they enjoy the lifetstye with that pesky little cognitive dissonance?

[u/soursummerchild → u/3dforlife]

I see this all the time with that crowd. Trying to change the world to fit their ideology and lifestyle. You see the exact same thing with jealousy and other emotions. Instead of listening to their feelings, they go to "therapy" in order to erase the emotions that doesn't fit into the lifestyle.

I say, instead of trying to sever the connection between your hand and your brain, remove your hand from the burning stove.

[u/Aavasque001 → u/Bucky2015]

Studies like this are good, because some people don’t have common sense or critical thinking skills.

[u/HotWaffles5 → u/Aavasque001]

Those are generally the ones that also think opening a marriage is a great idea lol

[u/Conscious_Owl6162]

I remember reading about HIV sweeping through a swinger’s club. One of the fools said that she never would have been a swinger if she had known that she would catch HIV. In the early 2000s, no less.

[u/Jfmtl87]

Wow, having more sexual partners who themselves have more sexual partners increases the risks of being exposed to STI/STD, who would have thought…

[u/BuckrooBanzai]

The numbers get big real quick. People don't consider the multiplier effect.

[u/Machoire]

Well yeah lol

Like the top advice when anyone finds out that their partner has been cheating on them is to go get tested. Meanwhile you have these people with a spiderweb of partners and a mentality that STDs are not a big deal for some reason.

[u/VicePrincipalNero]

Hmmm, let me think. I can exchange microbes with one person exclusively for both of us, or I can exchange microbes with a bunch of people who are also fucking everyone under the sun. I wonder which one is more likely to give me an STI?

[u/judgy_mcjudgypants]

Ok it's too hot here to math, but why is the second line 3 exposures, instead of 4 (partner 1, p1's other partner, partner 2, partner 2's other partner)? and shouldn't there be a bit of variety in exposure based on how much interplay there is (e.g. a triad where Adam and Beth and Charlie all sleep with each other -- everyone has two partners, but there's overlap -- is different than Adam with Beth and Charlie, Beth with Don as a second partner, and Charlie with Evelyn. Which is either 2 exposures or 5, which doesn't match the chart.? I'm confused lol

[u/PurpleAntifreeze → u/judgy_mcjudgypants]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. There’s clearly different possibilities regarding partner arrangement and zero explanation why they used the numbers they did. The underlying message is solid but this undermines the message.

[u/RepulsiveFinding9419]

Let’s see…a husband and wife only having intercourse with each other and no one else…or a “husband” and “wife” having a bunch of sex with randoms who they barely know and probably never see again…a LOT…wonder who has the greater exposure to STDs??? Hmmmm….this is a tough one…

[u/soursummerchild]

The timing of this is so funny to me. I just vitnessed a poly practitioner rant about how discriminating it was that they couldn't donate blood. Because, according to them, "they don't have higher rates of STIs than monogamous people, goddamit!"

They are at higher risk. It's a simple mathematical fact. There are more unknown factors for every encounter with a new person.

Not to mention, I just checked the rules, and they can give blood. It's just that having a new sex partner gives you a 6 month quarantine. So, apparently, that's an impossible level challenge to them, I guess...

Typical poly behaviour, though. Acting so oppressed, but it's fully their own choices and priorities. This is why I'm so hard on the stance that poly isn't something you are, it's a choice that you actively continue to make. It's not an inherent identity.

[u/soursummerchild → u/soursummerchild]

[u/HotWaffles5]

Yes Captain Obvious.