Facebook Leads To Increase In STDs in Britain 270
ectotherm writes "According to Professor Peter Kelly, a director of Public Health in Great Britain: 'There has been a four-fold increase in the number of syphilis cases detected, with more young women being affected.' Why the increase? People meeting up for casual sex through Facebook. According to the article, 'Social networking sites are making it easier for people to meet up for casual sex. There is a rise in syphilis because people are having more sexual partners than 20 years ago and often do not use condoms.'"
Damn (Score:5, Funny)
Fuckbook? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Damn (Score:4, Funny)
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Head over to Facebook where an encounter with an alien being can leave you with a very different kind of Klingons to defend yourself against.
Anyway, you could learn a thing or two from Shatner he's probably very knowledgeable on the subject. There are few people who could shed light on what happens when you stick your 'enterprise' into something blue.
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Isn't James T. Kirk's habit of dating outside his own species more commonly referred to as "beastiality"???
Actually, this is one of the facets of Star Trek's backstory that isn't frequently spoken about.
Star Trek takes place in the 23rd century, by which time humankind has colonized other worlds, met all kinds of alien life, etc. But in fact all the "alien life" they meet are actually just people in silly costumes and possibly with some makeup on. What happened is that the 22nd century was an era of peaceful exploration. Humankind set out to meet alien life, and they failed. So it became fashionable for indi
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Wrong places (Score:5, Funny)
I've obviously been looking at the wrong places on Facebook. Where's the "casual sex hookup" area?
Re:Wrong places (Score:4, Funny)
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That's what you think.
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That's what you think.
Translation:
She's a dirty whore who fucks everyone while you're at work... No really... EVERYONE... check her facebook friends list, you don't get over 9000 friends
(or 8000 in the original Japanese...)
Re:Wrong places (Score:5, Funny)
You don't live in the UK, do you? Obviously, something has happened to the stuffy Brits. The UK just had to cut down a bunch of trees because people were 'dogging,' or having public sex there. There is evidently an epidemic of sexy times in the North Atlantic Archipelago. When did 'stiff upper lip' turn into 'stiff willy saluting passing motorists?' and more importantly, can you teach us American how to be a little less puritanical?
Re:Wrong places (Score:5, Funny)
When did 'stiff upper lip' turn into 'stiff willy saluting passing motorists?'
A little while after we exported all of our puritans to the Americas.
and more importantly, can you teach us American how to be a little less puritanical?
Sorry...
Re:Wrong places (Score:5, Informative)
There was a nice article in the spectator as to how you people from continental europe list the UK as a favorite destination. This is despite of the food, weather, shitty attitude. It's because we have large numbers of drunken sluts who will fuck just about anything.
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sed s/you people/young people/
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The UK is the nation that gave us Benny Hill. The US is the nation where the Benny Hill show could only be seen on educational television.
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Whoah. Wait a minute. Are you claiming Benny Hill is not educational? It's intended audience is twelve year old boys. It was sure educational for me!
UK (Score:4)
Well, it's the UK, so I doubt I'd be the first:
"Ban Facebook now!"
"They're corrupting our innocent children"
"It's all the work of secret terrorist pedophiles... we must root them out by recording all facebook conversations and having a central database"
Sounds good?
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The gay networks.
Yeah, sorry, not what you were hoping for, I guess.
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Not sure. There's a "poke" feature, you can try that and see if it works for you.
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However....this does seem an interesting trend to helping to get laid a bit more often, can't ever get too much of that.
"Step 5: Change phonenumber a few times after being bothered too much by crazy cat-owning psycho's
Re:Wrong places (Score:5, Insightful)
It sounds like the answer here is to join Facebook, but use an alias instead of your real name. That way, the people from your past can't find you, and if you need to disappear because one of your new hook-ups turns out to be a psycho, then it'll be easier since you can just create a new alias and start over.
But honestly, this Facebook hookup thing sounds like a lot of work, alias or no. Wouldn't it be easier to just join AdultFriendFinder for casual sex? Probably not; it seems like women want to believe that men they meet might actually be interested in something long-term, even though it's plainly obvious that they're not, so they need men who tell them all kinds of lies, like "my wife are I are married in name only", "we're separated but staying together just for the kids", etc. Then they act all surprised, like Tiger's girlfriends, when they find out that he's been lying to them.
Women, is it really so hard to just be honest? If you want casual sex, stop making men jump through hoops and make up lies for it. If you want a long-term relationship, then find a man who's actually single (not one who's married and supposedly "separated"), and keep your legs shut until you actually know him well enough to know he's the one you want to have kids with, or at least know him well enough to know he's not a psycho or a liar.
Re:Wrong places (Score:4, Informative)
>> But honestly, this Facebook hookup thing sounds like a lot of work, alias or no. Wouldn't it be easier to just join AdultFriendFinder for casual sex
LOL. after my divorce I joined facebook. AFF is a site full of scammers, cam girls and hookers. Facebook is real people.
Within a 2 months of joining I had hooked up with 4 women I knew in the past who had a crush on me and I never figured it out. All were divorced or separated. I actually stayed with 4th for a year before she dumped me because I didn't want to get married for "a while" and she wanted kids *now*. After that I met up with a friend of a friend. Then I stopped using facebook for dating.
Facebook wins hands down vs. AFF ;) to meet new women either use a reputable site for dating (if there is such a thing) or you could leave the house and meet people. That's what works for me. After my initial year of tapping facebook, I prefer to stay out of my network of friends for dating since people treat you differently after a breakup and gossip if you both know them all. That's the real drawback about facebook.
I sincerely doubt that using aliases on facebook would work for dating. Starting a relationship with a lie doesn't usually bode well.
AFF is a scam. Been there, done it.
Oh, and wear a condom for chrissakes. I do agree with one of the parents that google voice is indispensable for dating. Anyone that's ever gotten 150 texts in a day from someone you just broke up with will agree. You can block numbers from reaching your cell with GV. My number is xxx-xxx-[first name]. Freaking awesome.
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If you're really curious about this answer, there are some interesting books that discuss the reasons for interpersonal ambiguity (aka 'dishonesty') and how that gives people (of both sexes) both more negotiation room and better options for negotiation. A few really worthwhile books:
Promiscuity: an evolutionary history of sperm competition [amazon.com] by Tim Birkhead, talks very little about humans but discusses (in great detail) how and why out-of-relationship and n
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Many women have to be in denial that they actually want sex or are headed towards it.
They prefer an atmosphere of "whoops--- how the heck are we having sex??"
On the flip side, many men also want women who act that way since a man hunting sex predator makes their jumbly bits shrink.
Ironically, many men really only want orgasms- not sex. So they finish in 6-10 minutes. Meanwhile, women can easily have sex for 2 to 3 hours. So you have the people who are saying "no" actually able to enjoy it much longer tha
What? (Score:3, Funny)
lolwut? facebook/myspace/craigslist/etc/etc/etc.
But hey, a lot of people are on facebook, let's blame it on that.
Vanessa Kensington: Mr. Powers, my job is to acclimatize you to the nineties. You know, a lot's changed since 1967.
Austin Powers: No doubt, love, but as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound!
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lolwut? facebook/myspace/craigslist/etc/etc/etc.
But hey, a lot of people are on facebook, let's blame it on that.
You do realise that Britain is not part of the United States, don't you?
From http://www.clickymedia.co.uk/2009/07/uk-social-network-statistics-july-2009/ [clickymedia.co.uk] :
Facebook has long been the UK’s most popular Social Networking site and now has over 19 million active users. In May 2009 alone Facebook.com received 23.9 million visitors in the UK. Other popular social networking sites continued to struggle to keep up with Facebook – Bebo followed as the second most visited UK Social Network (8.5 million visitors), then Windows Live Profile (6.9 million visitors) and MySpace Sites (6.5 million visitors)...
You heard it here first, folks: (Score:5, Funny)
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Well, in defense of not liking them...having sex with one on, is about as much fun as eating a nice steak with one on your tongue.
Sure, you know it is supposed to be juicy, fun and pleasurable...but you can't can't feel anything.
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Try polyisoprene.
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C!=C (Score:5, Insightful)
Correlation is not causation. Facebook usage may correlate, but doesn't cause it.
"Don't drink and park. Accidents make people."
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Yes, but you can reduce (thought not eliminate) this risk by making sure you pull out and climax on her tits.
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Re:C!=C (Score:5, Insightful)
Correlation is not causation. Facebook usage may correlate, but doesn't cause it.
"Don't drink and park. Accidents make people."
I'd love to see your data disproving causation in this scenario. Or are you just making a blind guess?
Just because "facebook usage may coorelate" you cannot take the logical leap and say that it "doesn't cause it"
Correlation is often a good grounds for doing a study to determine causation/non-causation.
People who don't understand what "correlation != causation" is supposed to convey should avoid using it.
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Dvorkin said it best: "The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using 'correlation is not causation' as an argument is close to 1."
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Wow, how "insightful"! Did you learn about that on Slashdot?
Did it occur to you that maybe the patients diagnosed with syphilis were questioned about their sex life? Why the fuck is this idiocy always modded up on this site?
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"but doesn't cause it"
Your error is at least as great as someone who says Facebook usage definitely causes STD increase. Correlation != causation is misleading at best. The proper statement is correlation !==> causation: correlation does not imply causation.
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, that's about as enlightening as saying bars and nightclubs lead to more casual sex. People socializing more, and it leads to sex? No shit. Doesn't really matter how the contact is made, does it?
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Facebook?? (Score:3, Funny)
Ahh facebook? I think craigslist takes the blame here...
Um... (Score:5, Insightful)
...I wouldn't say this is a problem with Facebook so much as a problem with fucking stupidity. It's not my place to question someone's sexual activity, but come on...who has sex with a stranger without using a condom?
Re:Um... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Um... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Um... (Score:5, Interesting)
I personally wouldn't, but plenty of people would. Like I said, it isn't my place to judge someone's sexual appetites...but I'll judge the hell out of someone recklessly screwing around.
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This reminds me of my college days. When my father visited the campus, he'd look at all of the nice looking female students. (And by "look" I mean turn his head so quickly that I was afraid he'd get whiplash. No subtly!*) As each one passed, he'd tell me that I should walk up to her and ask her to sleep with me. My answer was if she said yes, then I definitely didn't want to sleep with her!
* Of course, this is the same guy who thought having "the talk" with me was "Hey, let's watch porn together!" The
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I agree! That's why I always ask for the name before the fucking starts. I mean, what can you shout while screwing: "Oh, your cunt is so tight, stranger!"?
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Why would you want to have sex with a "stranger" even if you did have a condom?
*Quickly glances at significant other and away*
Fixed that for you.
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Why would you want to have sex with a "stranger" even if you did have a condom?
Oh I don't know...maybe because of this wacky thing called testosterone...maybe you've heard of it?
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I know, I know, all the sisters, the brothers, the mother, the father, the dog...
Who needs strangers?!
Best Response (Score:2)
Yours is the best response to the question so far. Mostly because I agree, beer is gross and smoking is yuck.
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Be intellectually honest in your conversation. If everyone practiced safe sex, AIDS would be gone soon, and you know it. A
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Someone who is fucking stupidly?
Thanks, I'll be here all evening, try the salmon.
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It was meant to be a double meaning :-)
My favorite instance:
"Selling is legal...fucking is legal. Why isn't selling fucking legal?" -George Carlin
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Why buy the cow (and incur all the continuing expenses and liabilities) when you can buy the milk conveniently and affordably whenever you want to. It'd put the whole Marriage Industry out of business. Think of the poor divorce lawyers!
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People with STDs apparently.
same old (Score:4, Funny)
Hey, look, an interesting statistical effect. How to explain it? Rigorous analysis? Nah, let's just blame it on new technology, 'cuz that wasn't around before and now things are different - obviously, there's a meaningful correlation!
Reminds me of the piracy/global warming graph: http://www.samizdata.net/blog/~pdeh/piratesarecool4.gif
..as reported by Murdoch's newspapers (Score:5, Insightful)
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Network promiscuious mode (Score:2)
I want this. How I can get that? I have already tried to recompile the network driver in promiscuos mode. But all I get is the packets of other peers on my lan :-/, :-I , :-), :-O
Re:Network promiscuious mode (Score:5, Funny)
Young whippersnappers hanging their ports out promiscuously.
Get off my LAN!
Murder! (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmm... that's a pretty good shock-headline-mostly-unrelated-to-the-facts, but I bet I can do better.
"Levi Jeans are Murdering Texans"
In a whopping 80% of deaths in the state of Texas, the deceased was wearing denim jeans - says a study conducted by the University of Jumping-to-Silly-Conclusions.
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And they deserved it to, what with their fancy-schmanzy "button-fly" jeans and delicious BBQ.
False report (Score:5, Informative)
The german media watchblog BILDblog just reported [bildblog.de] (in german) this to be a hoax. The connection between Facebook and STDs was constructed by The Sun, not by Prof. Kelly.
The Department of Public Health even issued a counterstatement according to the BBC [bbc.co.uk].
Re:False report (Score:5, Informative)
If correct that does not surprise me. The Sun is well known (in the UK) to never let the truth get in the way of a good story, especially if the story involves sex.
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The Sun links this to a survey last month suggesting that the region is Britain's Facebook capital - "figures released last month showed that people in Sunderland, Durham and Teesside were 25% more likely to log on regularly."
But Mr Kunonga points out that Sunderland and Durham are not in the NHS Tees area - so the syphilis statistics do not apply to those apparently Facebook-mad cities.
Keep up the good work guys!
Public awareness campaign (Score:4, Insightful)
So someone says social networking sites are to blame, instead of the amazing coincidence that syphilis cases increased as the government stopped their public awareness campaigns against STDs. I'm thinking someone needs to expand their search for causalitis.
"These are your genitals. THESE are your genitals on Syphilis. Any questions?"
Damn (Score:2)
I knew there was something on Facebook I was missing out on aside from Mafia Wars.
Syphilisbook (Score:2)
Well, at least it isn't something that's untreatable.
Come back when you find a correlation with herpes, because Herpesbook has a better ring that Syphilisbook. You can also turn it into Faceherpes, but Treponema pallidum can't really find a good place to live on the face.
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Maybe not, but Faceherpes is pretty scary.
Facebook? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll state the obvious then.
This is about sex education and access to reproductive health services/products. Facebook is just a way to shift blame.
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People know they're supposed to use a condom, and they know how to get one.
Hey, speak for yourself. I was out fishing all day with my OLD ROD and I didn't catch a single one...
Wrong. FB leads to increased casual sex. (Score:4, Insightful)
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syphilis cycles (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6935-syphilis-cycles-not-driven-by-risky-sex.html [newscientist.com]
Thats right (Score:2)
Thats right. YOU have syphilis Facebooker! :)
I've Never Had Casual Sex (Score:4, Funny)
Yea right (Score:2)
People might be meeting up for casual sex online more than before, but I severely doubt it's through facebook
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Just curious (Score:2, Funny)
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Naaa-aaa-aaa-aaah.
toothing (Score:3, Informative)
Facebook Suggestions (Score:5, Funny)
Herpes
120 of your friends are members
Join This Group
Toothing anyone? (Score:2)
Children, try to remember that history repeats itself here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toothing [wikipedia.org]
This hoax worked because the people wanted to believe. So here we go again. The usual "The Internet is evil"-fodder for the water cooler on friday, a.k.a. nothing new here, moving on.
The original article didn't mention Facebook (Score:3, Informative)
Here's an article in the local press of March 19th:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2010/03/19/syphilis-cases-rise-400-on-teesside-84229-26067098/ [gazettelive.co.uk]
No mention of Facebook.
There was then an article on the 24th in The Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7508945/Facebook-linked-to-rise-in-syphilis.html [telegraph.co.uk]
Again, no direct claim that Facebook was responsible, just an unsubstantiated paragraph stating that
Case have increased fourfold in Sunderland, Durham and Teesside, the areas of Britain where Facebook is most popular.
[sic]
There was another instance recently where Facebook are threatening to sue the Daily Mail
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/11/facebook-daily-mail [guardian.co.uk]
after the Mail took some general research into unnamed social networking sites and attributed the dangers specifically to Facebook.
I would think it far more likely that AdultFriendFinder or GetItOn would be responsible for any increase in STDs, and that it's bad journalists seeking to sensationalise stories, by trying to make them more familiar and relevant to their readers, who are using Facebook as a synonym for any social networking site.
Fucking leads to increased STDs in Britain (Score:3, Informative)
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Re:i call (Score:5, Funny)
I swear to God, I'll pistol whip the next guy that says "shenanigans"!
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Give 'em all good teeth, and you'll have even MORE casual sex going on. Don't you see there is a plan at work?