What is Promiscuous?
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What is Promiscuous?
| Tue, 05-24-2005 - 11:08am |
One of the other posters, I think Tally, brought this up and now I'm wondering. Exactly how many partners qualifies a person as promiscuous? Is it X many people in a month? Is it X many people in a year? Is it X many people in a span of a few years? What is considered promiscuous?

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To me, personally, promiscuity is less about the number of partners one has and more about being reckless and indescriminate in choosing them. In other words, just having sex for convenience with no regard for consequences. And you can often link promiscuous behavior to other problems.
I've known several women who've had many partners over a lifetime but none of them were promiscuous. On the contrary, they were very picky and selective about their partners.
You mean like having sex with one guy one night and turning around and having sex with someone else the next night with your 2 yr. old in the room? I knew someone who was very reckless like that and ended up with Chlamydia. And Gonorhea. She also married a guy and then divorced him a month later because she didn't want to be with him anymore and started sleeping with more men!
Thank you!
Jennie, I remember a recent post from Tally discussing promiscurity and STDs. If this is the post you are referring to, I believe that it's important encourage the message that not only promiscuous people get STDs.
People who are in long term trusting relationships can get STDs because a partner is symptomless. Some STDs like chlamydia are frequently symptomless in a woman.
I know people who are my age (30's and 40's in Australia) who will be very careful about who they sleep with, and use condoms - but because they are naieve (sp?), stop using them when they trust that the partner is "not the type" who will have an STD.
Other people can be very careful when choosing a partner, but end up with a liar who didn't tell them about knowingly having an STD. I saw a post on another board just last week regarding that. A women who says she loves her man was having unsafe sex with him - despite having the genital wart STD. This poor bloke who took his time, and thought he knew her is about to catch a dose himself.
Or of course, you can be prefectly faithful but your partner can cheat.
Jennie, you are lucky to be young and have grown up in an era and a country where STD education is frequent. When I was growing up (Australia in the 80's) we got taught one lesson in sex ed about STDs. There was no "safe sex" with the exception of avoiding pregnancy. So, people my age and older were simply not educated about avoiding STDs. The fact that some people who are from a different era have them is not related to sleeping around - but to lack of education.
STDs already have a load of stigma attached. Let's do our best to encourage the knowledge that they are not strictly limited to those who sleep around.
No, no....my fault for the misunderstanding. I kept seeing STD posts and went off on a tangent. (blushing)
In answer to your question, *I* believe that it is HABITUALLY having indiscriminate sex. I don't think that a "one off" one night stand makes someone promiscuous...but doing it regularly does. What constitutes regular? It would really depend on the attitudes of the person judging the promiscuous person.
However, the word really is open to interpretation. If you've ever seen any judgmental posts from women waiting till marriage - anyone who has sex outside of marriage is considered by them to be promiscuous.
disclaimer before I get flamed by lurkers. Yes, I'm well aware that many virgins by choice would be tolerant of the choices of others. And that they have a "live and let live" attitude.
I grew up in a very religious background and promiscuous people were those who had sex outside of marriage. I think a little differently about things now, and I live a lot more open lifestyle than I used. I don't think I am promiscuous as much as adventurous and open-minded.
However, this struck me: <have an STD.>> Sounds like the one brush that I have had with STDs -- and I am a fortysomething woman, although in the USA.
Elaine
Bed hopping. In one bed and out the other.
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