[good times]

I have to admit, if a potential play partner suggests that we should be tested we are pretty much done with them at that point. The reason for that is that I have spent a considerable time educating myself regarding std's, and came to the same opinion as Vegaslee alludes to. That is, if someone believes that a play partner is safer based on an std test, then they are uninformed and suffering from a false sense of security. We have also noticed that people who place so much value in testing, not always, but usually engage in more risky behavior, based on their false sense of security, than I am willing to. Frankly, I would much rather play with someone who had never been tested but was reasonably knowledgeable of the risks, than someone who believes that if their play partners are tested they are somehow safer than someone who hasn't been tested, an opinion that their is absolutely no credible evidence to support.

Another red flag along the same lines as testing that the title to this thread suggests, is that we also avoid folks that are so uninformed as to believe that we, as swingers, are at any more than a minuscule risk for catching AIDS. Again, the uninformed usually believe that AIDS is as easily transferred as the common cold, when in fact, it is almost impossible to transfer through straight vaginal sex. The problem is, that someone who doesn't know this basic fact about it, always indicates to me that they also do not know how AIDS is transfered, which means they are more likely to engage in those unsafe behaviors than I am. The fact is, if you don't engage in anal sex with playmates, and don't have any open sores in your genital area, you have almost zero chance of getting AIDS from someone. So, for us, AIDS is a total non-issue.