 Yes, your mum and dad are doing it (or perhaps that's you). In fact, there's been a 139% increase in syphilis... among 45-64 year-olds! This may seem strange as society expects reckless behavior from teens and younger adults, but some are calling the surge in STDs among the baby boom generation an epidemic.
Sexually transmitted infections have doubled in under a decade in people over 45 and are now rising faster than in the young. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) study said internet dating and erectile dysfunction drugs (i.e. Viagra) were partly to blame. Men were most likely to be affected, with increases in herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea and genital warts. Within the over-45 age group, men and people aged 55 to 59 were most likely to have a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
It's fun to blame everything on erectile dysfunction drugs, but if we do the math, today's 55 year old would have been a teenager in the late 60's and a young adult in the early to mid 70's -- the era of sexual revolution, hippies and free love. Perhaps greater tolerance towards uninhibited sex and growing up before the age of AIDs have made for a laxer mindset on safe sex. Divorce rates have about doubled since the 1950's leaving a lot of the baby boom generation stranded in the dating pool. Should us kids have the condom talk with our single parents?
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