Zim Facts 💡
For people in stable relationships, “casual sex can be in some ways safer than sex within a committed relationship,” says Anthony Richard, director of the Institute of Sexual Health in New York City. “It’s a situation that the’slut’ is responsible for herself and her health and well-being,” Richard says.
Because casual sex is typically shorter term, people with more sex partners have a greater chance of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which are transmitted by unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sex, says Richard. According to the CDC, there are more than 17 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases each year. And with that increase comes a bigger chance for bacteria or viruses to enter the bloodstream and set up shop in the body. You need to take all necessary precautions during and after sex to ensure that you don’t catch STIs, says Richard. One of the biggest risks is an STI you can’t see or feel. That’s why it’s important to use condoms and have your partner use protection as well, according to the CDC.
Other obvious risks include pregnancy, low levels of birth control, diseases that are passed from one person to another (the common cold, cold sores, warts, herpes, and HIV are all from this) and other diseases, such as syphilis, genital warts, and gonorrhea. If you really do want to get engaged in casual sex, it’s also good to have an STD/STD test before and after having sex, as well as use a water-based lube to minimize the risk of getting a disease or bacteria from a partner who has it.
For people in long-term relationships, people who have low-risk partners (people who are faithful) and people who are in monogamous relationships, casual sex has always been an issue, says Richard. That’s because in traditional relationships, sex is a massive emotional commitment (for anyone), which rarely comes before marriage. This whole situation only gets worse when you add in the risk of cheating, which in itself is not much of a risk, but when it’s paired with the possibility of paternity confusion, birth control failure and divorce. With the many other stresses on our relationships these days — from the pressure to meet your standards to the end of the day, when you’re tired and have worked a lot and maybe haven’t eaten dinner (oh god, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I won’t do that again —) — getting laid can actually become a bit difficult. But
doublelist.cpm
You think you’ve got a foot in the casual-sex boat, but the truth is, you’re a tad bit wet. “The most common complaint from people I talk to is that they had one hit too many,” says sex and relationship therapist Cindy Meston, PhD. The problem? Too many casual encounters may make a person more vulnerable to a whole host of risks, including STDs, hurtful breakups, and even having their heart broken. As we get older, this can leave us wondering, “How do I know when I’m getting too old for casual sex?” Let’s figure this out together.
How did I land the other night’s hookup? Ask yourself this question.
Will my feelings be hurt or discouraged if the hookup doesn’t go the way I want it to? This one is important, because even if you have “hookup ethics” (a.k.a. telling a new fling “no means no” doesn’t apply to you because you’re a grown-up!) some people just don’t get it. That’s why it’s very important to be open to meeting new people with boundaries — lots and lots of boundaries — in place. It’s also a good idea to double-check to make sure that whoever you’re meeting really shares your opinions on an array of things, like commitment-phobia, trust, and privacy — just to be on the safe side.
Most casual sex platforms? Mm-hmm.
In fact, hookups are the most common type of sex. If you were curious about what the AP-NORC Center for Health Policy Studies found, it revealed that 34% of Americans had, at some point in their lives, participated in hookups. There’s a whole spectrum of that sort of thing. At one end, it’s likely you’d recognize casual sex as a sexual encounter where there isn’t an expectation of anything other than fondling and/or sex, while at the other, it could be more intimate (think: new couple in a committed relationship). The size of this spectrum also depends on the person and their partner.
Wait, were we talking about sex?
People may have sex when they have casual sex or other forms of non-committed sex with someone they may, or may not, like very much. Sex is also an