STIs and the stigmatization thereof 

So according to Dr Sidney McElroy on her podcast Sawbones, people overall really didn't care about genital herpes prior to the 1970s because it's really medically insignificant. In particular, she cites an old survey on the psychological impact of STIs that didn't even bother asking about HSV.

And then two things happened: 1, pharmaceutical company Burroughs Welcome pushed an "awareness campaign" so they could sell more Acyclovir.

And 2, neoconservatives started using herpes as a menace to convince people of the badness of non-monogamy.

And now people see it as this huge thing even though it's incredibly common and not that big a deal medically.

I'm a bit angry after learning that?

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STIs and the stigmatization thereof 

@starkatt That's...some fresh bullshit, yeah.

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