Friends with benefits: Singles seeking sex in Netherlands are advised to find regular partner amid pandemic
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The things the Dutch will do for their country.
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands has amended some of its coronavirus guidelines to advise that single residents find a willing sexual partner to help them weather the pandemic.
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Previous guidance issued by Dutch officials had advised against sexual contact with anyone not living in the same residence, even if both persons were in a steady relationship. Meanwhile, citizens were still allowed to visit each other’s homes, provided everyone stay 1.5 meters (5 feet) apart at all times, The Guardian reported.
This week, however, the RIVM acknowledged that “these rules limit our freedom and our possibilities,” but maintained that most residents (over 95 percent) believed the currently precautionary measures were helping.
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Those measures, meanwhile, are apparently leaving something to be desired.
The RIVM’s Center for Healthy Living resource recently walked back some of its guidance, according to The Guardian, to allow for single folks to share physical contact, so long as they adhere to a few safety measures. “It makes sense that as a single you also want to have physical contact,” reads a message posted to the Center for Healthy Living resource site.
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To that end, the RIVN suggests singles “meet with the same person to have physical or sexual contact (for example, a cuddle buddy or ‘sex buddy’), provided you are free of illness.” Singles were also advised to “make good arrangements” about the number of people each partner is seeing, in order to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19, per the Guardian.
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The guidelines seem to match up with those of Soa Aids Nederland, an organization working towards minimizing the spread of STIs and STDs in the Netherlands, and which is also cited by the RIVN in its guidance.
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“According to the guidelines, you are temporarily not allowed to have sex with each other,” reads a message posted to Soa Aids’ coronavirus resource page in April. “But if you regularly come together during this period, if you sleep together, you are already close to each other. Then sex is no extra risk.”
Any singles still worried about their safety are advised to practice safe sex while still adhering to the 1.5-meter rule. (“Think of telling erotic stories, masturbating together,” the Center for Healthy Living suggests.)
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However, there is still one rule the RIVM is still standing firm on: “Don't have sex with your partner if they have been isolated because of (suspected) coronavirus infection.”