Promoting sex without condoms
A professor says unsafe sex is good for mental health
Is unsafe sex healthier sex?
(Corbis/Ole Graf)
Unsafe sex has been getting a bum rap, said Stephen Adams in Britain's Telegraph, if you buy the results of a study by professor Stuart Brody of the University of the West of Scotland. Brody asked 111 Portuguese men and 99 women about their sex lives, and found that those who used condoms regularly were more likely than those who didn't to suffer from depression, suicidal tendencies, and be emotionally immature.
"I'm not buying it," said Dan Savage in Seattle's The Stranger. For one thing, it was a small sample and Stuart Brody had to take his subjects' word for everything. More importantly, "the straight people likeliest to be having unprotected intercourse—those having sex without condoms—are those in stable, monogamous relationships." So unsafe sex isn't good for you—"being with someone with whom you can safely have sex without using condoms is."
Professor Brody's "conclusions will alarm groups trying to combat the spread of sexual disease," said Andy McSmith in Britain's Independent. But Brody says he's not interested in being "politically correct." He says it's simply good science to recognize that only "evolutionarily relevant" sex—sex that can lead to reproduction—can promote "better physical and mental health."
That's a "dubious" claim, said Amy Benfer in Salon. If humans only cared about "spreading our seed far and wide," the vast majority of our societies would not "have evolved, if you will, in the entirely opposite direction—toward delayed child-rearing, and having fewer children in whom they invest more of their resources."
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12 Comments
Posted by driverseven, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 10:51 am It appears this study was done in the west of Scotland not exactly lots of wild orgies going on there, anyway. Please refrain from the obvious sheep sex jokes.
Posted by Bob, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 11:05 am Go for it. Experiment with your mental health, which you will need when you are in hospital or hospice care with STDs. People these days jump on whomever comes down the walk. If you want to share in all that adventure without all that quick pleasure, don't use a condom.
Posted by nkdpagan, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 1:52 pm I WISH women would jump on who ever comes down the walk...geez. Not everyone that has premarital sex is a slut, and there are other ways to prevent STDS which only a few are killers, most just annoying than wrapping it in plastic. Boy, Bob, your a real kill joy. Go out and get laid.
Posted by Dr. Ron Gerughty, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 3:42 pm Brody is a prototypical Freudian reincarnate, a classic example of ideology masquerading as science. His experiments are rigged to yield the results he desires, male sexual supremacy. Penilevaginal penetration is his fetish and his objective. Nothing else will suffice. What a crock of junk science.
Posted by km, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 4:23 pm Seriously?? This is ridiculous. It's too bad he's receiving media attention for this absurd study.
Posted by Diane, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 4:28 pm I have to agree with Dan Savage on this one Dear Lord, I never thought I'd ever say that. Unsafe sex is obviously not a good thing, otherwise AIDS wouldn't still be such a big problem not to mention all of the other loathsome diseases you can catch that way. Having a relationship where you are safe to let go like that definitely is.
Posted by Diane, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 4:28 pm I have to agree with Dan Savage on this one Dear Lord, I never thought I'd ever say that. Unsafe sex is obviously not a good thing, otherwise AIDS wouldn't still be such a big problem not to mention all of the other loathsome diseases you can catch that way. Having a relationship where you are safe to let go like that definitely is.
Posted by JS rensen, Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 4:39 pm I think the AIDS epidemic is close to over, but other STDS are out of control.If you know your partner and you are monogamous, than condoms are not necessary. Just sleeping together isn't sex by the way.
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