Would you go to a club that required STD Testing

[BiloxiCouple]

Originally Posted by two4youinswva

I have found the solution.

Click here for demonstration video.

I loved the video!!! That is what the fear mongers would have us do!!!!

[good times]

Highlander,

If you are so desperate to validate your point that you put any significance whatsoever in a poll that only 43 people (as of this post) out of all the people that come to this site every day even bothered to vote on, then you are totally delusional.

Get a grip on reality man, most swingers don't even use condoms unless the person they really want to play with insists. Oddly enough, I have had many playmates that are in the medical profession, they ranged from "will use condoms if we have to" to "if you insist on condoms count us out". Haven't met one in person yet that required condoms for play though. Seriously, I am not trying to be insulting to you, but listen to some folks with experience in the lifestyle, they will tell you your idea will never fly, not a chance, no way, no how. It just isn't going to happen. That is the bottom line. So, if the only way you will play is with regularly tested people, and you can find some, go for it. But don't be surprised if the rest of us in the swinging community think you are nuts. Fact is, if I was as paranoid about std's as you seem to be, I sure as hell wouldn't be swinging.

[fun4Ds]

I have held out voting a while so I could get the input.

I voted yes as a hypothetical decision. I haven't been to that tested door yet. Its the only way to keep the option open for now. We might like to visit that hypothetical club for our own reasons. I am pretty sure whatever test might be performed has already been done by my own doctor. I cant imagine going through all that, at the door of a club. Those tests were done for me, my own comfort. I didn't get tested for or because of the lifestyle. So I have way less fear of what I believe to be the unknown results at the door.

So now that leaves me just wanting to get in the club. To do that I pay a fee. Its still just a matter of cost... Thats it. We really hate to see a fee of more than 50 bucks.. The price of the test is right there with the rules and dress code in this hypothetical club.

Now for me to envision this I am hoping this test will be a q-tip oral suave given by a hot nurse with lots of clevage...Hey, its my hypothetical club.. If she starts reading all these facts and findings to me... I would probably be staring at her boobs because what she is saying is irrelevant to why we want to get in anyhow.

This poll is about a simple question yes or no. That means in reality I have a choice of are we going in, or not. We like clubs and they are there for a reason. For people like us to get out and party when we want to and can.

For me, The guy who wants in the door its about. Is this club worth going into ? What kind of theme or crowd are dealing with and would we fit in ? How much is it? What can we wear ? Is our friends in there ? What are their rules ?

The testing seems low on the list. 10 bucks and 10 minutes if all the above were answered yes...

I don't need to debate my reasoning... I am just the guy and his wife at the door. Keep the entrance as simple as possible... make it complicated and probably our kind of people aren't in there.

[highlander]

Originally Posted by good times

Highlander,

If you are so desperate to validate your point that you put any significance whatsoever in a poll that only 43 people (as of this post) out of all the people that come to this site every day even bothered to vote on, then you are totally delusional.

I'm well aware of the concept of sample bias(I used to work at a major polling research institute). That said, I was personally surprised at the results of this poll-even accounting for Lee's observation that when it comes down to paying for a test, a lot of folks wouldn't do it(even at $60/month which is where I'd put a private, shared results, testing program with existing technology/services).

What I observe here is a difference between people willing to talk about this
topic and the poll results-and what appears a difference between some of the rank and file here and the community leadership.

Get a grip on reality man, most swingers don't even use condoms unless the person they really want to play with insists.

That is true of most people. Most sex acts even among people that are relative strangers don't involve condoms. In fact, in Chicago, most acts of street prostitution don't involve condoms according to one study I saw.

Oddly enough, I have had many playmates that are in the medical profession, they ranged from "will use condoms if we have to" to "if you insist on condoms count us out". Haven't met one in person yet that required condoms for play though.

One of the funnier online stories I heard was from a guy that claimed to be an MD about having sex with a nurse in a hospital while both were working in an AIDS ward-and having an offer of unprotected anal sex. It apparently freaked him out a bit. I never met this guy in person-but his story seemed pretty consistent.

Seriously, I am not trying to be insulting to you, but listen to some folks with experience in the lifestyle, they will tell you your idea will never fly, not a chance, no way, no how. It just isn't going to happen.

That makes it an interesting challenge then doesn't it? Remember, I've actually known real life groups that were non-monogamous that did require STD testing as a group(i.e. More University in the Bay Area, Kerista commune, Rajneesh folks). Maybe it takes a charismatic cult leader to get folks to do this sort of thing. I'd like to think it doesn't.

That is the bottom line. So, if the only way you will play is with regularly tested people, and you can find some, go for it. But don't be surprised if the rest of us in the swinging community think you are nuts. Fact is, if I was as paranoid about std's as you seem to be, I sure as hell wouldn't be swinging.

My great grandfather, and herbalist, used to treat STD's back before the days of penicillin. His protocol was use of snakeroot soon after contact-which is something you still see being suggested in the natural medicine community today. Did it work? I don't know. However, in those days if it didn't, the best conventional medicine would offer was stuff like mercury pellets in the skin. There was another effective drug before pennicillin(in the 1920's or so which was a bit leater), but it required a lot of injections and few folks completed them and it never really caught on.

Anyhow, my grandfather grew up in a household where a typical Sunday morning was a line of mine that had been out whoring the night before and were desperate for some help-and given the likely outcome, I can understand the willingness to go outside the realm of conventional medicine there.

What we are dealing with not is nothing like the syphilis epidemic-yet. I'm not sure which way the wind will blow. What I will say is that even if we get into a situation just as severe as my great-grandfather's day, we'll have plenty of folks playing without condoms-and those will include medical folks.

Anyhow, I tend to see the act of testing and sharing results as something that goes a bit beyond personal responsibility. What some folks miss is that porn actors and swingers are living the dreams of a lot more folks than ever participate. That is the type of thing that inspires envy and emulation.

Even if Lee is right here-and the STD rate(including HSV/Herpes) is VERY low among swingers--and there is simply "no problem", that doesn't mean that these practices are going to necessarily inspire safer behavior in the community at large-and that is the kind of thing that can combine with envy and feeling threatened in positions of moral authority to do stuff to take up a lot of Lee's time in court.

I wish I could see things that made what is going on here a bit clearer from a scientific angle. I find it plausible that just the fact that clubs like the Rooster cater to folks over 25(according to their website), exclude many loaded or obviously sick folks and charge an admission fee might account for much of the lower level of STD's there-I'm not sure how much though.

I learned a few things that were a bit surprising to me while researching for this thread. I was surprised at just how many people appear to lie about test results according to the studies I saw. I was also surprised at just how concentrated transmission of STD's are among the least sexually experienced population(a big chunk of folks pick up an STD with their first sexual experience).

Anyhow, I think that if the right testing technology were created and stuff like liquid condoms got a bit further developed, swinging regularly could actually be safer from an STD standpoint than walking down the street. Even the extreme outliers among us have limited sexual needs-and if someone is playing in a tested club(or a tested porn set) all the time-they aren't out someplace that is a more dangerous environment(at least for that moment). I'm not the "paranoid" one acting like we are only dealing with fast moving STD's like Chlamydia and Gonorrhea for which testing is of limited use-and I'm not a condoms are the panacea type when I see legitimate evidence suggesting condoms are of limited effectiveness around stuff like HSV.

I have been willing to turn down play options from folks that thought sharing of test results was too much to ask-and I've made sure I had condoms around in my space. I've seen first hand just how hard it is to assemble a testing required group. I suspect the job is better suited towards someone younger, better looking and/or more charismatic than I am. I also think that my own willingness/ability to forgo play to put together a testing required group is limited. Now, that said, I don't regret having tried-and continuing to try.

[cupl4fun]

We would prefer a club like this. We read a book that had a resort like this (fiction) and wished it was real. While it's no 100% guarantee of no disease it does seem like it would reduce the risk though and we're all for that. It wouldn't have to be every thirty days unless you went at least once a month. You would just need one within thirty days of attending. We'd actually prefer this. Yeah it's a little more leg work but we were willing to drive 450 miles to go to a club so we don't mind the leg work, especially when it comes to a little more safety.

[highlander]

I can see something like this flying for a swinger resort like Hedonism II. Folks plan those kinds of vacations pretty carefully-and the costs of testing isn't that much compared to the rest of the vacation package.

I checked a vacation package for a Hedonism resort and for 5 days, it was $2500 for two people.

I find it very plausible that some folks might prefer such a vacation for $3100 and have some assurance that other guests at their destination were tested STD-(particularly when you consider there is already a pool of folk that are already testing regularly and would just have to have results faxed).

A lot of technical advances start out on the high end and then gradually filter down.

I'm not sure what the smaller high-end swingers resorts are like--but there sure seem to be a bunch of them around.

[BiloxiCouple]

I haven't seen a dead horse beaten in a long time. I think it is about due.

[good times]

Here is another one for you.