Do Women Take More Risks with Online Lovers?

Did you see Denise Ryan’s article in the Vancouver Sun last week that highlighted a new study about online dating and sexual behaviour?  

The article chronicled the risks of “instant intimacy” that people feel when they meet their online honey in person. Sex can happen fast, and those conversations about safe sex that are advised by folks like me often fly out the window. They’re seen as unnecessary, as several months of getting to know someone online should have yielded up information about HIV or STIs, right? Connection works on honesty.

Not always, mates. And researcher Cindy Masaro wants to know about online dating and sexual behaviour.

Masaro is interested in talking to women over 25 for this study, and I’d encourage those of you a little *older* to jump in too. Those of us who are restarting in the dating world often go online. After meeting Mr/Ms Maybe, we don’t always ask about sexual health stuff. It’s just not polite. Or needed, we think.

But for those like me who work in the HIV community, we know that HIV prevention knowledge is sorely needed. You only need to look at the recent CANFAR study on the 30th anniversary of AIDS to see there’s a knowledge gap. Ninety-three percent of those in the CANFAR study said they figured they knew about HIV and AIDS, but only half of those in the survey said they thought condoms were helpful in reducing the risk of HIV transmission. Half! Condoms are extremely effective for preventing HIV transmission during vaginal or anal intercourse and are always recommended.

Almost sixty percent of those surveyed who had been with two or more sex partners in the last year didn’t use condoms the last time they had intercourse, so risk taking is an issue too. Risk taking, or thinking you’re not at risk can add up to the same thing if you end up with something.

And more folks over 40 are. I’ve talked to so many women my age who don’t think of HIV as a risk, but unfortunately it is. HIV transmission is far more efficient from man to woman than vice versa, making vaginal or anal intercourse a risky consideration without a condom. Heterosexual intercourse is a huge risk factor for HIV and other STIs.

So if you’re finding some love online, get your HIV and STI prevention info. And if you want to be part of history, check out Masaro’s study eligibility.

- Janet

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