[felixg3]

There are people announcing their PrEP status on dating apps so they can raw dog with strangers? Have people forgotten that there are plenty of STD besides HIV? I think this is highly problematic and lifestyle PrEP seems to be counterproductive as a public health measure.

But I am open to arguments that I’m wrong. It’s possible that I am biased as a monogamous heterosexual who has grown up in a culture where sex without condom, especially outside committed relationships, is generally frowned upon and 1980-1990s HIV scares are still in the consciousness of people.

[consteval]

> lifestyle PrEP seems to be counterproductive as a public health measure

No. Preventing HIV is not "counterproductive" because maybe some people got chlamydia when they shouldn't have.

First off, PrEP is more effective at preventing HIV than condoms. Doing away with PrEP to "improve public health" WILL give more people HIV.

Second off, people don't always use condoms. We can sit here all day and argue about what people should do or morality or discipline or whatever. None of that matters. What matters is what people ACTUALLY do. We have not yet unlocked mind control so we have to work within the constraints of humanity.

Third, people who do use condoms don't actually use them right, generally. Syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea are all transmitted through oral sex. Nobody, even heterosexuals, uses a condom for oral sex.

Lastly, other STIs are actually very treatable. While they sound big bad and scary, they're nothing like HIV. 5 days of antibiotics and a runny nose is not equivalent to a lifetime of being HIV positive. People treat other STIs as less serious because they are, especially if you get tested regularly. Gay men and especially gay men on PrEP get tested very, very regularly. The odds of long-term syphilis side effects or whatnot is basically 0.

[iknowstuff]

Nobody’s giving or getting head with a condom. People who stay on top of preventative measures tend to not bother with condoms since PrEP became prevalent, because the rest of them you can get with or without a condom due to oral.

Preventative:

1. Gardasil 9 (vaccine against 9 strains of HPV, prevents genital warts and cancers caused by HPV)

2. Monkeypox vaccine

3. Meningitis ACYW vax

4. Meningitis B vax (35% effective against gonorrhea)

5. doxyPEP (two pills of doxycycline taken after sex, 90% effective against syphilis, 80% chlamydia, 50% gonorrhea)

6. PrEP (prevents HIV infections)

7. and the usual suite of vaccines against the rest like hepatitis A/B, mumps etc

You’ll notice all of these give you far more protection than a condom would. Again, especially since oral is a thing.

Treatment of the bacterial ones (which transmit through oral too):

1. syphilis - butt shot of penicillin

2. chlamydia - 1/2 pills of an antibiotic

3. gonorrhea - a week of doxycycline pills or one butt shot of ceftriaxone

Remaining unpreventable/untreatable one is HSV. Half of the population has it. Condoms dont prevent it either.

Hepatitis requires blood contact and as such is not necessarily considered an STI, but hepatitis c is curable these days thanks to DAAs taken over the course of 8-12 weeks, and a/b variants have vaccines.

[scotty79]

Great list. Although suddenly sex when single seems like even more of a bother than before.

[theideaofcoffee]

Thank you for adding this here, I was working on compiling something similar for another comment on the thread. This is pretty much the gold standard and yeah those that keep up on preventatives and testing are usually the least likely to pass anything along. More information is better, not less! These puritanical views on human sexuality, like the comment above yours to which you're responding and others, only cause more hurt and don't really have any sort of deterrent effect. Peeps be fuckin', nothing you can do to stop it besides get the best info and treatments out there.

[iwontberude]

HSV is inevitable if you hookup, but its also not that bad.

[switch007]

They know other STDs exist but thanks for the insinuation that all homosexuals - sorry - "people" are stupid