Sex Myths

[mzteris]

Global study dispels common myths about sex
Research reveals surprising details about STDs, loss of virginity, and more

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15501173


interesting bits:

". . . In some instances, married women may be at more risk than single women.

“A single woman is more able to negotiate safe sex in certain circumstances than a married woman,” says van Look, who points out that married women in Africa and Asia are often threatened by unfaithful husbands who frequent prostitutes.

There is much greater equality between women and men with regard to the number of sexual partners in rich countries than in poor countries, the study found.

For example, men and women in Australia, Britain, France and the United States tend to have an almost equal number of sexual partners. In contrast, in Cameroon, Haiti, and Kenya, men tend to have multiple partners while women tend only to have one.

This imbalance has significant public health implications.

“In countries where women are beholden to their male partners, they are likely not to have the power to request condom use, and they probably won’t know about their husbands’ transgressions,” said Wellings. . .

[Samurai_Writer]

1. That makes total sense

If you're married or in a 'committed, monogamous' relationship, of course you aren't going to use condoms. However, you never know if your partner is being monogamous. The only STD (minor, treatable) I ever had, I got from a cheating husband. And I was not a virgin when we got married, either (far from it).

[mzteris]

2. I was more interested in this aspect....

“In countries where women are beholden to their male partners, they are likely not to have the power to request condom use, and they probably won’t know about their husbands’ transgressions,” said Wellings. . .


That inequity breeds greater risk for the woman.

[Samurai_Writer]

3. Yes, I agree, however...

"they probably won't know abou their husbands' transgressions"... NO ONE knows that a partner is cheating until after the fact. That happens everywhere, not just in misogynist, third-world countries.

[mzteris]

4. (sigh) - true. n/t

[Warpy]

5. Nah, I was always the second to know

because I could always tell when my ex picked out his next prospect. I knew before SHE did, how sad is that?

[bliss_eternal]

6. There's a great many married women within the

African American community are getting std's and testing HIV positive because of husbands on the "down low." (The down low being a phrase coined by a man that was having sex with men, behind his wife's back--but very much "under cover" he's not out of the closet, because he can't even accept the fact that he's gay).

I saw the guy that wrote the book on Oprah (when I still watched her show). It was so disturbing, because he has compartmentalized his life and is in such denial, he still can't face the fact that sleeping with men means he's gay. The guy sat there getting quite indignant with Oprah about his status as a straight man. :eyes:

This is one of the reasons I'm so angry with the black churches that came out against the glbt community in the last election. They need to wake the fuck up and stop teaching people hatred against gays. They seem to think that doing so is isolated to gays but it isn't.

By teaching hate of gays, they are teaching these men that they should hate themselves and be ashamed of who and what they really are. So in the process, these guys are building lives with women, while consequently having unsafe sex "on the down low" (behind their backs). Of course the men don't use protection. Doing so would mean they are actually participating in a gay relationship... so denial rages on and in some instances they are taking stds, even hiv back to their wives.

:mad::grr:

[ismnotwasm]

7. Not so surprising.

If women have access to health care, to choice, to education, I would assume that sexual health would be improved. If basic survival isn't the first consideration.

I know sexual safety was a more important topic to me for my daughters than the actual loss of their virginity. That was a background topic having more to do with making choices, not virginity as a value itself.

I remember watching a show on AIDS in a country in Africa being devastated by HIV. A clinic had been set up to test couples. Interviews were shown with the men and women separately and together. In this country (I'm sorry, I don't remember which one, or the name of the show)the women felt men slept who whomever they pleased, and they had little or no say about their husbands sexual behavior. Very impoverished people. The testing was traumatic. I remember when one couple both came back positive, the look of shell shock, almost blank faces. God it was sad. When the tests were negative, relief was practically palpable. One man after testing negative-if I'm remembering right- promised to be faithful. I remember wondering if that was true, if that was enough to change entrenched behavior.