STD's on the increase?

[Waaii]

On the news today were reports that STD's were on the increase. Would we all be better off if we could go back to(not so long ago) when we only had 1 partner, sex was after marriage not before and kids came with marriage.
People who had sex outside marriage were not at all favourably looked on by the public, but at least STD's were minimal and not worthy of statistics. The only way 3rd world HIV will be combated is not just condom use but sticking to 1 partner then it could not spread sexually
same goes for here. Backward step??? I'm not so sure.

[scruffscat]

before i was married i had quite a few sexual partners i dont feel ashamed, and wouldnt like to think people frowned upon me.this is th 21st century we are living in and people will always have sex.I however think that more education about condoms and less ignorance is needed to combat the spread of stds hiv and aids both here and in the 3 rd world countries you mentioned

[NH]

I think the nature of social change means you can't go back to that, even if you wanted to. And the truth is, society in the "good old days" almost certainly had something else deeply flawed about it that has now been solved, or at least is healing.

The fact is, many people look to a "golden age". The Golden Age, though, is a myth. In the Golden Age that you mention, for example, I think getting an abortion would have had you deeply stigmatised and shamed, even if you were raped. Homosexuality was deeply reviled too.

In other words, society is never perfect, it just has a shifting agenda of problems.

[noxlumos]

As someone who has studied history in depth I can assure you that people have never "only had sex with one person". That has never been the social norm to my knowledge. Have a look a few statistics regarding illegimate birth in the 18th and 19th centuries and you'll see what I mean, plus sex is a wonderful expereince to share.I don't personally want to return to a time when people still had sex ad lib, but were socially castigated if anyone found out. That's just absurd and YES a massive step backwards. Maybe we should revive the Magdalene Laundries whilst we're at it, eh?

[LeMarchand]

Whilst the "more casual sex = more STDs" equation is undeniable, I wonder if the increase in casual sex is down to the increased sexualisation of just about everything in the media and the low esteem that young people have for themselves and each other which leads to them using sex as some sort of currency of worth.

[Waaii]

I am not denying that just one partner was never the universal norm, but in my memory it was certainly much more usual than it is today. Most woman did not have sex until they were married and did not indulge in casual sex. Men undoubtedly did have sex but the woman they had sex with were not the one they married. I am not saying that was good, correct and was far from being any 'Golden Age'
Homosexuality was not considered 'normal' I agree but being pedantic it is still not literally the 'normal'. Abortion was a backstreet affair, rape was far less prevalent, but neither was abortion used as a method of contraception as it often is by the ******** today. A feotus ripped from a womb when it could survive or be adopted may not be seen by some as progress. Citing the Laundries as the possible return is emotional overstatement. I only suggest what must be a truth that if people stuck to the traditional state of marriage and sex within that union STD's must by definition be cut at a stroke because they could not spread.

[jen157]

Ya, I think that Sexually transmitted diseases are out of control. A lot of people do it and they don't realize that you don't always show symptoms so they pass it along not knowing. Just look at <a href="http://yourstdhelp.com/herpes.html">her
pes
symptoms</a>, you just don't know.