This year’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report on sexually-transmitted diseases is bad — like “your fearful wang leaps from your body and runs for the hills” bad. With hookup culture and social media platforms playing a large part in our interpersonal relationships, it would be easy to give into fear and use this information to stroke the fire of the moral panic hookup culture has created.
But I’m not going to do that. Moral panics are stupid. I see no problem with people engaging in no-strings-attached sex, so long as they aren’t dumb about it.
But, apparently, they’re being dumb about it.
Each year, the CDC releases a report that publicizes the number of cases of sexually-transmitted diseases (STD’s) in the United States. Consider it an annual sexual progress report, I guess. Every year, we can look at the information and determine whether education is effective (of course, disregarding the South), if people in different demographics are having more or less sex, or if cultural idiosyncrasies are helping diminish infection rates (waxing and shaving have been largely effective in pubic lice genocide, for example).
The CDC found that rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea increased between 2013 and 2014, after several years of being on the decline. In 2014, there were over 1.4 million cases of chlamydia (456 for every 100,000 people). Gonorrhea cases increased to 350,000 in 2014 (six for every 100,000 people).
Another notable STD increase was that of syphilis, which unlike chlamydia and gonorrhea has been on the rise for the past decade. However, in the past few years, syphilis’ power level has gone well beyond 9,000. In 2014, nearly 20,000 syphilis infections were reported (6.3 for every 100,000 people), up 15.1 percent from 2013 (5.5 for every 100,000 people) and up 40 percent from 2010 (4.5 per 100,000 people). Keep in mind that from 1990 to 2000, syphilis cases in the U.S. fell almost 90 percent.
Dr. Gail Bolan, director of CDC’s Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, was the lead author of the report. “This is a bare minimum of the number of infections occurring in the U.S.,” she said, adding “there could be many cases that went undiagnosed because the infections did not cause symptoms, which is typical of chlamydia and gonorrhea, and because people did not have access to health care or their providers did not test them.”
There could be many factors contributing to the rise in STD’s, notably in attitudes toward sex among young people. The report found that the highest incidence of chlamydia and gonorrhea were found in people between the ages of 15 and 29. Most cases of syphilis were found in people aged 20 to 29.
According to the data, men are being hit hard by these diseases, but that’s not to say women aren’t also impacted. Half of the gonorrhea increase has been found in heterosexual men, along with a 25 percent increase in gonorrhea infections among homosexual men. The increase in syphilis infections have been primarily driven by homosexual men, but the report found that between 2013 and 2014, syphilis rates in women climbed 23 percent, while infection rates in heterosexual men increased 14 percent.
But why? Perhaps social media platforms like Tinder may have something to do with it? With a single swipe people are effectively consenting to sex with an unvetted stranger. Other social media platforms exist that cater specifically to hookup culture, including Pure and Grindr. The hookup app is becoming more and more mainstream in our smartphone-dominated culture. Social media platforms like AdultFriendFinder still enjoy solid popularity. Technology and connectivity may very well be a driving force here.
But while there is no clear single reason why STD rates have gone up, it is important to point out that “condom burnout” is a thing. Condoms suck — no one will refute that. They’re uncomfortable, fairly inconvenient, and for some, potentially dangerous. Lambskin condoms, the go-to latex alternative, are one of the least sexy things ever and they smell like what I would assume the world of The Walking Dead smells like.
Still, though, we have to make sure we’re being smart about promiscuity. As I said above, I see nothing wrong with people having no-strings-attached sex. I think it’s very healthy to do so, both physically (interesting considering the subject here) and psychologically. However, despite the ease of social media platforms, it seems to have made the vetting process more difficult.
And even though STD’s are far easier to treat now than they were, using a condom is crucial in keeping yourself and your partner free from pathogenic invasion.
Don’t be a fool, wrap your tool.
