I’m flabbergasted how so many people - both guys and girls - are ok with hooking up with someone they barely know. STIs are very common these days and some have no cure such as HSV and HPV (https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-blog/2022/november/hpv-related-cancers-are-on-the-rise-in-men). I prefer to exchange STI test results before hooking up, whether in a casual or more serious relationship but going by the hookup culture it seems like I’m the exception. How are people thinking about this? No trolling please, asking for genuine perspectives.
Yeah, I am worried about casual sex, unfortunately there's no vaccine
Hey op, there’s a vaccine you could get to prevent hpv but it won’t work if you’re already infected, for people with over 26 it’s a 3 dose. Although hpv has lot of strains, it helps with major strains that cause gw or cancer.
My doctor said it’s not applicable to me as I’m not a teenager. Probably meant I already have HPV.
No you can still get it. But it isn't as effective if you have already been sexually active
Driving can lead to accidents. Do you stop driving? Anything in life has risk
Hpv is so common. Really not a big deal. Put a condom and enjoy one of the best things life can offer you. If you are still worried, maybe you have some underlying anxiety. So go see a therapist.
It’s totally fine to exchange test results before getting together with someone. I usually don’t have sex with someone until we establish baseline chemistry and a recent test with clean results
I’m a woman and I haven’t dated in a couple years but when I was, tbh I wasn’t not careful (always insisted on protection personally and refused on more than one occasion where a guy didn’t have or didn’t want to use a condom) but I also wasn’t super cautious. I got tested every other month just in case (I mean I wasn’t wracking up partners like wild or anything but it made me feel safer) but I myself didn’t ask for STD test results. It did turn out this year (I’ve been with same guy for 2+ years now) that I have HPV but no idea where it came from because it can take a while to show up and anyway guys can’t get tested for it so probably was unavoidable for me (I got the vaccine too :))
My partner offered his status before anything and I largely appreciate it. Someone I know who got HPV ended up extremely anxious about it as it could cause cancer. I'm on the why not ask and be careful rather than take the risk of getting cancer. Everyone's risk tolerance is different though.
But there’s no HPV test for men just fyi
No one care about about sti. Only worry about hiv, the monster virus. But it’s rare to get that.
You can do PEP and PREP to reduce hiv infection
Yeah but that’s only in 24 hrs exposure window. condom gives 100% protection from hiv, so just use it until status of partner is clear