Quote Originally Posted by Squirt View Post

"Pre condom" people were getting syphilus, clamidia, crabs, herpes, etc. "pre-condom" days were STD days as well.
Really good point. For me, when I was in high school, I can remember people talking about how terrible it would be to get herpes, because it's incurable. Of course, it was really nothing than a relatively mild annoyance in comparision to other STIs now, but that was a big deal back then. And I think that's the difference... you have unprotected sex in 1975, you might get gonorrhea or syphillis or herpes, but that one-time decision wouldn't kill you. A couple shots or a week's worth of antibiotics and you were pretty much fine. Ten years later, a one-time decision to have unprotected sex did indeed mean a death sentence to many people.

I think part of the reason that there is a resurgence of barebacking is because very few of the current generation of kids has seen anyone near or dear to them suffer and die, as people of my generation did. So it's perceived as a distant thing that might affect them at some indeterminate point in the future, much as the risks of smoking cigarettes, but not something that needs to be worried about now. And, of course, the other reason for the resurgence of barebacking is the increased prevalence of crystal meth, which both creates a strong sexual appetite and removes the reasoning and inhibitory responses that would otherwise normally kick in.