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.'"
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: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.
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.
toothing (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Damn (Score:3, Informative)
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 individual colonies to adopt their own "alien" customs and styles of dress. In the mid-23rd century this rarely extended beyond some distinctive clothing or some body paint. It was only later in the 23rd century that these rogue colonies really got their act together.
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.
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.
Fucking leads to increased STDs in Britain (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Um... (Score:3, Informative)