The dangers behind the post-pandemic “sexplosion”
Experts predict the UK could see a ‘summer of love’ as people embrace a hedonistic lifestyle following the end of Covid restrictions – stoking concerns of a rise in STDs, unwanted pregnancies and cases of coronavirus. Closer investigates…
SEX IS THE ULTIMATE REBELLION AGAINST SOCIAL DISTANCING – BUT
I’D ADVISE CAUTION
As “Freedom Day” arrived on 19 July, Hannah Smith* was the first in a line at her local nightclub in Leeds – and she took full advantage of the relaxing of social distancing rules by hooking up with a man and going back to his for a one night-stand.
The next evening, she went out again and ended up back at another man’s house for a night of sex. After months of being cooped up indoors, Hannah was thrilled to let her hair down.
READY FOR FUN
Hannah, 30, who works in PR, says, “In December 2020, just as Boris was about to plunge us into a winter lockdown, my long-term boyfriend broke up with me. I was devastated and being stuck inside didn’t help. There were no distractions – no nights out or girls’ holidays to make me feel better. So by the time restrictions started to lift, I was ready to get back out into the world and have some fun.”
After months of heartache, Hannah was pleased to be finally getting back out there – but it came at a price.
She says, “After sleeping with two guys in two nights, I felt confident and sexy and like the old me was slowly returning.
“But a few days later, one of the guys texted me to say he’d had a positive Covid test, and I started showing symptoms, too. I took a PCR test and I immediately got in touch with the other guy I’d had sex with, to let him know. I came back positive, but luckily as I had been double vaccinated, the symptoms weren’t as bad as they could have been, I just felt tired and had a cough.
“Thankfully, the other guy I’d slept with was negative. It did worry me that I could have given him Covid, but I think that’s a risk that single people are going to have to take these days.
“Now, my recovery is going well. I’m hoping to line up a few more dates for when I’m out of isolation.”
It’s predicted that Hannah won’t be alone in feeling excitement at getting back out there. Experts have said the coronavirus pandemic may give way to another “roaring 20s” rife with lavish spending and sex-crazed parties. Yale University professor Dr Nicholas Christakis, who specialises in behaviour patterns, explained how similar health crises across history – such as Spanish flu in 1918 – show a pattern of people slipping into isolation to protect themselves from sickness, and then desperately seeking out social interaction when the threat has passed.
FREEDOM
According to extra marital affairs website Illicit Encounters, which conducted a survey of 2,000 members, there has already been a 32 per cent rise in affairs in the first two weeks of freedom.
Relationship expert Rhian
Kivits says, “The pandemic was very isolating for a lot of people, they had no human connection, no fun, they were lonely. People became ‘skin hungry’ and now they want the comfort of touch and to connect with others and that will inevitably mean casual dating and sex.
“Sex is life enhancing, it elevates your mood, there’s a post-coital chemical change in your brain. And people will be driven by the feeling that life is too short and that they’ve been told what to do for too long. They will feel rebellious, and sex is the ultimate rebellion against social distancing.
“None of this is bad, but I would advise caution. Make sure that you actively want sex and not just an emotional ‘sticking plaster’ for loneliness. And it’s important not to put yourself at risk of unwanted pregnancy and STIs. Also, Covid-19 is very much still a risk, it hasn’t just disappeared, so people can’t relax completely.”
Analysis of internet searches by Medicine Direct has shown that there were spikes in searches for emergency contraception and “STI tests near me” as restrictions relaxed
throughout the pandemic. And Superdrug has seen a 44 per cent year-on-year increase in the purchase of at-home STI tests and treatment.
NOTICEABLE RISE
Dr Mark Lawton, spokesperson for the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), says, “Were predicting there will be a rise in sexually transmitted diseases. The latest official figures we have are from 2020, during the harsh lockdown of April and May there was a dip in diagnoses and when June ended, with the relaxation of rules, there was a noticeable rise.
“As people start having more casual sex again, we urge them to use condoms and keep getting tested.”
It’s a lesson that Jemma
Field* learned the hard way.
The 31-year-old accountant from Birmingham hooked up with a date from Tinder when restrictions eased in May.
She says, “It was someone I’d seen a couple of times before lockdown. He texted me and as I longed for company and sex, I went. I’d had my first vaccine, and had been isolating with my family so I wasn’t worried about passing on Covid and I knew he’d been following restrictions, too.”
But a couple of weeks later she got a text from him saying another of his sexual partners had gonorrhoea and that she should get tested.
She says, “I wasn’t angry with him as he didn’t know at the time. But I felt so stupid that I’d got drunk, got carried away and hadn’t used a condom – I hadn’t really thought about STIs and I’m on the Pill so wasn’t worried about getting pregnant.”
Jemma sent for an at-home test and says, “Waiting for the results was the longest three days ever.
WAKE-UP CALL
“When it came back positive it was a relief to actually know and get on with treating it with a course of antibiotics. Thankfully, I hadn’t had sex with anyone else so couldn’t have passed it on. But it was a wake-up call and I will be using a condom from now on. I never want to be caught in a situation like that again.”
By Mel Fallowfield