Would you date someone with genital herpes?

It would totally depend on the situation to be honest. You can't just get a straight-forward yes or no answer.
If it was someone you really cared about and spent time getting to know, and you really fell for that person then I would be more open.

I have to be honest though that my gut feeling would be no. Not because of the virus itself per-se, but because it shows someone has been careless with their own sexual health in the past and this would worry me that they don't take sexual health seriously (I know this isn't your case, but that's the stigma of STI's unfortunately). BUT, as I said above, if I got to know someone first and had an amazing connection with them, I would be a lot more understanding and willing to get to know what's involved and why it happened.

My advice though is ALWAYS be honest. You CAN NOT have sex with someone without being honest - imagine if someone did that to you, you'd feel betrayed! However, it doesn't mean you have to blurt it out straight away! Take the time getting to know someone and falling for each other's personality before having sex. It will make the issue easier to bring up anyway. Just please always use protection too.

You sound pretty sensible anyway and that you know the right thing to do!

It would totally depend on the situation to be honest. You can't just get a straight-forward yes or no answer.
If it was someone you really cared about and spent time getting to know, and you really fell for that person then I would be more open.

I have to be honest though that my gut feeling would be no. Not because of the virus itself per-se, but because it shows someone has been careless with their own sexual health in the past and this would worry me that they don't take sexual health seriously (I know this isn't your case, but that's the stigma of STI's unfortunately). BUT, as I said above, if I got to know someone first and had an amazing connection with them, I would be a lot more understanding and willing to get to know what's involved and why it happened.

My advice though is ALWAYS be honest. You CAN NOT have sex with someone without being honest - imagine if someone did that to you, you'd feel betrayed! However, it doesn't mean you have to blurt it out straight away! Take the time getting to know someone and falling for each other's personality before having sex. It will make the issue easier to bring up anyway. Just please always use protection too.

You sound pretty sensible anyway and that you know the right thing to do!

No.

no

Opinion noted and appreciated, but could you elaborate more why? Because of its stigma, or more because you would be scared of catching it?

Opinion noted and appreciated, but could you elaborate more why? Because of its stigma, or more because you would be scared of catching it?

Would you date someone who has genital herpes (HSV-2)? Doesn't matter if you're male or female.

Some things to consider:
-once you get herpes it stays in you for life
-there is a 10% chance of transmission with unprotected sex (avoided during outbreaks, which reduce year by year)
-there is a 5% chance of transmission, if the infected person is on suppressive antiviral therapy
-if condoms are used, the transmission rate is reduced to only 2.5%
-many people have it but don't know it

Would you risk it? What would you do if someone you had been dating for a while and liked told you they have HSV-2?

I have genital herpes and I think I got either from my current girlfriend or once when I was on holidays and a condom broke (I was already having sex with my current gf then, but we weren't together). My GF knows I have it but has never had any symptoms, even though we accidentally had sex during an outbreak (the first one ever, thought it was a cut from my zipper).

Personally, I don't really care that much about it. Every time I get an outbreak, I just eat some Antivirals and it disappears immediately, before it even causes any pain or inconvenience.

But anyways, they say you should always tell your partner that you have it. How would you react when someone told you this?

So what percentage of people have herpes?

If you google it, it seems its 20-30% and more common in women. So difficult to avoid if you are as sexually active as most people would like to be.

Depends if I really like the person. Probably not, but I don't know a lot about herpes and how it actually affects your life. If someone would care to explain to me...

So basically it's a virus that once you catch it it stays in your life, with two main strains (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and some other unrelated ones, the first one being cold sores and second one similar thing but on your genitals. The first outbreak might be bad, but after that they become milder and milder and you get them less and less often, but the virus always remains in your body (dormant).

Around 25% of the sexually active population in the UK have genital herpes (HSV-2) with 1/5 of those infected having zero symptoms and 3/5 so mild symptoms that it's not diagnosed. 1/5 of those infected have obvious symptoms and get diagnosed.

50% of the whole UK population have HSV-1 by the age of 30.

The virus spreads easily if unprotected sex is had during an outbreak, which can be easily prevented though by avoiding sex when having one.
The transmission rates follow:
-10% chance of getting it in 1 year of having unprotected sex with with an infected person with no antiviral therapy
-5% chance of getting it in 1 year if the infected person is on antivirals
-2.5% chance of getting it in 1 year if the infected person is on antivirals and a condom is used.

The symptoms are basically spots or sores on your genitals, that can be painful. When I get them, they don't bother me in any way and I just eat some antivirals and they disappear in a day or 2.

Most people in the world (even as high as 90%) have herpes. Genital herpes is less common than cold sores, but it it's still pretty endemic and the reality is probably a good few of the people in this thread who claim to be disgusted already have it.

For the majority it is completely symptomless. Which means that it can be transmitted around without people even realising. Most people catch the cold-sore version (HSV-1) in childhood, even from something as innocent as kissing your mother, who also probably caught it from hers and never realised. Genital herpes can be caught during childbirth. Even when it does have symptoms, occasional blisters are hardly life-changing. It's not as if we're talking about HIV, or even chlamydia.

So to claim you would never date someone with genital herpes is completely ridiculous.