I know it’s probably a terrible thing to say, given the subject matter, but the BBC headline ‘Old swingers at high risk of sex infections’ has warmed the cockles of my heart (so to speak). No, not because swingers are at risk of getting sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), but because they’re OLD. Well, that’s if you call 43 old (there again, it’s hardly spring chicken territory, is it?).
So basically a Dutch study published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections (talk about a barrel of laughs…) says 12 percent of the 9,000 consultations at a sexual health clinic it analysed were paid-up members of the chandelier-swinging association of wife-swappers (or should that be partner-swappers these days?), with an average of 43. And those swingers, the researchers claim, had some of the highest rates of STIs alongside young people and gay men.
Hurrah, I say. There’s hope for all of us in the impending autumn/winters of our lives (some sooner than others).
Not that STIs are anything to joke about (I have to include this for the journalistic balance police). If you think you may have one, get down to your GPs or your local sexual health clinic. The fpa has a list of clinics on its website. There, that’s me being responsible.