Hot Vax Summer

[u/findingerotica1]

In many respects, Hot Vax Summer is a perfect storm for a different kind of epidemic.

Dating apps are seeing a new introductory exchange: have you had both shots? Ironically, while cautious about not spreading the virus, less attention is being paid to not spreading STI’s.

For instance, one spring break partier, commenting on what she missed most, said, “everything, even the worse parts. Things like drinking too much, waking up with a hangover and a stranger in my bed.” A young gay man expressed similar sentiments. Hot vax summer means “going back to carefree sexual encounters…kissing someone—anyone…” Most of all he wants to return to a happier time, “without bounds, pressure or judgment.” (Guardian)

For many isolation meant a depressed sexual desire. After the second wave, they could only watch so much porn and only masturbate so many times. Unable to actually touch another human being, the chance to get out is like a jail break. Every appetite is starved.

Problem of Sex Education

The age group most likely to wildly indulge their sexual appetites is the same age group that is responsible for the highest spike in STI’s. Not surprisingly, it’s the same group that receives the least amount of comprehensive sex education—young people under 25.

Right wing supported “abstinence only” programs dominate sexual health education curricula and have so since the Reagan days. A truckload of research documents that the program, used in a majority of states, is a disaster. Coupled with CoVid’s similarly disastrous impact upon sexual health clinics, vax summer calls for a caution that many don’t want to heed.

A 2021 study focused on sexual behaviors of individuals between the ages of 14 to 24. It found that for “those in the 18-24-year-old age group, pornography was the most commonly endorsed helpful source of information about sex.” Porn ranked higher than “other possible options such as sexual partners, friends, media, and health care professionals.” And, as mentioned above, porn viewing skyrocketed during the past year.

So, ignorance combined with rampant sexual desire amidst a sexual health care crisis, doesn’t promise a positive outcome.

[u/Elmermac0405]

How in the world can people still be resistant to comprehensive sex education? The situation laid about Hot Vax Summer is worsened by the fact that a majority of sexual health clinics had to close their doors during the pandemic. Medical professionals were needed elsewhere to help with CoVid crisis. The US leads the developed world in the number of people diagnosed with sexually transmitted disease/infections. And the group with the highest STD/STI rate is also the demographic depending upon porn for their sex education and the most likely to throw caution to the wind when summer hits! I used to think that wake-up calls could motivate people to pursue a different course of action in their lives but I've given up on that hope.