STDs at the Bathhouse

[Philip]

There are a post or two about the joy of having anon sex in the dark room at the bathhouse but not many about catching STD’s there.

Do you always catch some sort of STD when visiting a bathhouse? I usually do. I find it embarrassing to keep going to the Melbourne Sexual Health Clinic every fortnight to get tested, then eventually treated for it, so I try and limit myself to the bathhouse about once a month now so I don’t have to get treated as often, but that means I have less anon fun too. 

[fskn]

I haven't been to my local bathhouse or to the glory hole arcades for a long while, but I concur. For me, fucking guys, getting blown, and occasionally blowing guys in those venues usually resulted in an STI. (Ditto for meeting privately with men who identify as straight or who are married and cheating on partners of any gender. These types are fun to fuck, but they tend to bury their heads in the sand, as if denial and inaction were effective STI prevention strategies.)

I have standing orders for HIV and STI testing through my regular health provider as part of my PrEP regimen, and can go as often as every three weeks. I choose to go monthly.

When I return to the fun venues, my strategy will be to fuck regulars at home right after testing, and strangers at the venues a week or so before my next tests. This of course won't prevent all transmission — known or regular partners can also have undiagnosed STIs — but it should reduce the chances that I'll pass something to someone else.

I do make clear to my sexual partners that I have not yet taken my vow of celibacy and that I play between tests; test results are static snapshots.

Conversely, I steer clear of people who don't fill out the date last tested in their Grindr profiles, or who indicate that they were last tested more than 3 months ago. Negative HIV and STI tests at a point in time are not informative, but a habit of regular testing tells me the kind of person I am dealing with, and it is what I offer in return.

I encourage you never to feel ashamed about getting tested, about having an STI, or about disclosing a current or past STI to a sex partner. First, STIs are a health matter, never a moral question. Second, people who never get STIs probably have limited sexual experience — great if you're into virgins, but not much fun otherwise. Third, by taking the step of getting tested, you are looking after your own health and that of your sex partner(s). This makes you the best kind of sex partner!

[hntnhole]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

I find it embarrassing to keep going

Philip, for different but similar reasons, I retained a gay internist just to take care of these particular needs (I seldom hit the tubs, but I see him there almost every time I do).  This internist is not associated with any other health-care insurer, and I pay him in currency.  Also, I get tested for all the little bugs on a monthly basis, since my proclivities tend to attract them occasionally.  Better to take precautions early, right?  Also, I no longer even bother with the online cruise sites; this burg is soaked in drugs, particularly the gay ones, and I avoid guys that are somewhere in the "clouds", since I much prefer to fuck guys that are "present".

 

27 minutes ago, fskn said:

I encourage you never to feel ashamed about getting tested, about having an STI, or about disclosing a current or past STI to a sex partner.

I couldn't agree more.  For that matter, never feel ashamed of doing what you need to do, regardless of societal pressure.  We're born how we're born, and we don't need to feel one ounce of shame about being the men we were born to be, and acting on those needs. I generally limit practicing my Lusts to weekend nights in the fuckjoints, but only so I don't slack off on other responsibilities.  

Philip, the fact is, yes - we're going to catch bugs - maybe even a serious one.  That fact doesn't mitigate our need for unbridled, wanton Breeding however, so it's up to us to take our individual responsibilities to heart. For me, it's a small price to pay. 

[Philip]

On 1/19/2022 at 12:30 AM, fskn said:

and strangers at the venues a week or so before my next tests.

STD test screening for my PREP is also every three month, so I had the same strategy of going to the bathhouse a week or so before my test, so that the test will pick up any STD that I caught. I don’t think I can wait to go to the bathhouse once every three months though, so now I go to the bathhouse once a month and get tested-treated a few days after that.

On 1/19/2022 at 12:30 AM, fskn said:

Second, people who never get STIs probably have limited sexual experience — great if you're into virgins, but not much fun otherwise.

This is so true! I’ve dated people who are terrified of catching STDs and consequently, are less than satisfactory in bed, although I never made the correlation as to why until now.

On 1/19/2022 at 12:30 AM, fskn said:

Third, by taking the step of getting tested, you are looking after your own health and that of your sex partner(s). This makes you the best kind of sex partner!

This was so wholesome to read 😇

On 1/19/2022 at 1:08 AM, hntnhole said:

We're born how we're born, and we don't need to feel one ounce of shame about being the men we were born to be, and acting on those needs

Thank you posting this. I went for a STD check-up yesterday and I was very confident and comfortable telling the doctor about my sexual history without feeling guilty of shameful. Don’t think I could have done that if I didn’t read your post beforehand. 😇

[Pigforcum]

Never caught a STD and I go to my local bathouse maybe once every month and a half

[barebackbro]

On 1/18/2022 at 11:11 PM, Philip said:

Do you always catch some sort of STD when visiting a bathhouse? 

I hit a bathhouse at least once a week, and often a couple of times. I also get tested regularly.

Despite that, I've only had a few STIs in my life. Am I just very lucky?

[hntnhole]

YUP ..... 

[Read1]

I think the odds are higher of getting a STD or two or three when you meet so many men at a bathhouse. I'm not one into stats, just from observation and play time there. Some care to get tested and treated for STDs, others don't. But STDs shouldn't stop you from having some raw fun.

[hntnhole]

9 hours ago, Read1 said:

I think the odds are higher of getting a STD or two or three when you meet so many men at a bathhouse

Agreed.  If a guy goes to the tubs, has sex with 1 guy, maybe 2, his risk level for contracting an STD is exponentially lower than if he took 20 loads off different Cocks, or fucked 20 different guys, or ate loads out of 20 different Holes.  Oddly, what used to be "enough" years ago, just isn't anymore; thus I put more importance on the regular check-ups, etc. 

Ever deeper depravities lead to ever greater chances.

[PigBoyDallas]

There’s a sex club/bathhouse in town (Dallas) but honestly I’ve never gone as my impression is a lot of the guys there aren’t my thing (prefer younger guys and Latino/white) and the STD factor. I realize I may be wrong and broadly stereotyping. I’ve had guys hit me up about going there but they’re usually middle aged guys. With Covid it seems pretty risky and I’ve not been to the two Korean spas in town as much as I did before Covid. I haven’t any room to talk as I am promiscuous and do a lot of anon sex but the guys at the sex club/bathhouse seem more likely to have STDs.

[Guest]

There is a definite need for a type of medical office such as the urgent care places that deal specifically with gay men's health. A franchise type of place in each city where guys can go get tested without ever feeling ashamed. They can confidently walk in whenever and get a a full screening. It wouldn't be necessarily a free clinic, but one that takes your health insurance. If not insured then a sliding scale fee. I mean they have gyno's for woman, why not gayos for men?

If more guys were comfortable getting tested and not shamed, there would be less STD's roaming around.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Muscledadbod

[partying.hard]

On 1/18/2022 at 4:11 AM, Philip said:

There are a post or two about the joy of having anon sex in the dark room at the bathhouse but not many about catching STD’s there.

Do you always catch some sort of STD when visiting a bathhouse? I usually do. I find it embarrassing to keep going to the Melbourne Sexual Health Clinic every fortnight to get tested, then eventually treated for it, so I try and limit myself to the bathhouse about once a month now so I don’t have to get treated as often, but that means I have less anon fun too. 

Oink!  Club 80!  Happy memories! 
 

but now that they have closed, where do the pigs in MEL go?

[fskn]

12 hours ago, PigBoyDallas said:

the guys at the sex club/bathhouse seem more likely to have STDs.

Is it the individuals, or the large number of them, having sex with one another?

In my own experience, people who are able to have sex openly are more likely to be informed about sexual health and to think about getting STI tests (still only sporadically, unless they are receiving PrEP care or HIV care). If a given bathhouse attracts lots of people who don't identify as gay, and/or men who are cheating on their wives/husbands/girlfriends/boyfriends, etc., then maybe the number of attendees who arrive with STIs is fundamentally high.

On the other hand, let's not discount the possibility that one attendee arrives with an undiagnosed, untreated STI, which spreads, directly, to many of the people that this attendee has sex with, and then spreads, through infectious fluids, to some of the people that they have sex with — an STI superspreader event, if you will.

On the positive side, in communities where there is limited access to sexual health care, or to gay-friendly care, bath houses can be a resource, offering drop-in testing certain nights of the week, etc.

[fskn]

4 hours ago, Muscledadbod said:

There is a definite need for a type of medical office such as the urgent care places that deal specifically with gay men's health. A franchise type of place in each city where guys can go get tested without ever feeling ashamed. They can confidently walk in whenever and get a a full screening. It wouldn't be necessarily a free clinic, but one that takes your health insurance. If not insured then a sliding scale fee. I mean they have gyno's for woman, why not gayos for men?

If more guys were comfortable getting tested and not shamed, there would be less STD's roaming around.

I couldn't agree more!

What you've described, incidentally, is San Francisco's City Clinic, which I believe is one of the most medically competent, culturally competent, and accessible sexual health providers in the world.

The ideal, of course, is that family doctors, general practitioners, doctors of internal medicine, etc. eventually do the hard work of educating themselves about sexual health care, of making talking about sex a routine part of medical checkups, and of providing stigma-free care.

Sexual health is a rapidly evolving field. I could tell you horror stories about general practitioners — typically suburban — who don't have a critical mass of gay patients and who are not humble enough to go back to first principles and read current CDC guidelines when treating an STI or responding to a request for PrEP (or worse yet, for PEP, which is time-critical).

Edited January 25, 2022 by fskn
Added internists

[Guest]

4 hours ago, partying.hard said:

Oink!  Club 80!  Happy memories! 
 

but now that they have closed, where do the pigs in MEL go?

Nothing will ever come close to club 80.