Most people have a sincere appreciation for the word casual. Add sex and you get an interesting duo. Nothing cums better than good old meaningless sex. It’s wild, spontaneous and invigorating.

No shame here…

The 90’s taught us to grab sex by the balls and embrace the unmentionables. (Arduous fantasies once trapped in the temple of our inhibitions were finally freed.)  However, the culture’s metamorphosis from sexually awkward to sex addict has at once saved the soul of the tortured porn surfer and introduced newly realized problems.

“The whole f***buddy thing is nothing but physical attraction of two people that are helping each other with their primal needs,” says Helen Jones, 27. It’s the magical vaginal/penile sensation of the no stings attached rule. Yet, the liability that arises from not knowing your current f***buddy is nonexistent until we encounter a nonreversible implication that may (gulp) alter our lives.

Yes, casual sex is provocative. It is efficiently gleamed with an audacious approach that’s so seductively powerful that it glamorizes proximity. But are casual hookups making us less discriminate toward the people we have sex with? From orgasmic affairs, internet hookups to horny craigslisters, has casual sexing turned into casual risk and digression?

“Casual sex is only awesome in thought and fantasy, but in reality, casual sex equates to casual STD's and casual pregnancies,” Marcus Moran, 25, opines. Sexual liberation does indeed have its cons, and it may have detrimental and life-altering affects. It’s all fun and games at first, but how well do we know the people we have sex with, and do we care to know more?

“If you want to know more, then it all starts to fall out of the f***buddy category and you begin moving towards a relationship,” says Hoyed Thompson, 22.

Casual Sex Important to Society-What Dah Fff?

 Sabrina Taylor, 28, Paralegal Assistant

“It’s not important to society, but it is damaging to society as it leads to everything from unwanted pregnancies to disease and broken hearts. It obviously does happen in society and therefore it is like any "industry"… it creates revenue and even jobs. It has invaded every aspect of society from sitcoms on TV and commercials to the need for Planned Parenthood clinics and adoption ministries in churches. It has created a whole product line of condoms and other birth control and added to medical needs/services. Romance novels and late night comedy thrive on it, politicians get involved when deciding if sex education should be taught and how and whether they should fund groups like Planned Parenthood. The list goes on......but that still doesn't make it "important"....just rampant”  

Christopher Allan, 35, Fashion Designer

“I don’t think casual sex has benefits for society because you can explore those things with your partner. Casual sex is only for the moment…very necessary for people who like living in it.”

Glenn, 30, Graphic Designer

“Casual sex is important to society because, as some people will argue, society has a vested interest in stability in relationships. If people are having sex outside of legal boundaries, it adds chaos in the form of sexually transmitted diseases (which have a tendency to spread when there's no monogamy around) and questions of parenting (single parents struggling and even using government money, for example).”

Ally Person, 26, Bank Teller

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Rule?

There’s a thrill of sexing the unknown—it’s an anonymous venture so exclusively juicy our taste buds can’t resist. The Less you know the better. Tawdry real person equates to (yawn) fantasy killer.

The Risk of NOT Knowing

In a moment of lust and pleasure there’s a lot going on internally—except for thoughts like “who am I really sexing?” Sure sex is fun, invigorating, and nut busting, but should we consider asking before screwing?

Agustus Franks, 30, Home Decorator

“I met this guy in 2003. I went out with him a few times, and we were going to get intimate with each other. I told him I did not have any diseases, and asked if he did. Then, he told me he was HIV positive. If I would not have asked, he would not have told me. So, we decided to be friends. From then on, I found out about all of his activities. He was jogging in the park at night and having sex outside with people he never told he was sick. He was also getting in the shower with guys at the gym, and not telling them. So, just remember next time you want to have sex with a stranger, they are probably hiding something from you. You just never know.”

Take Precautions and Have Limitations

Hitting the G-spot or having a massive orgasm during casual sex is swell, but the quality of casual sex is often measured by what you don’t get, rather than what you do. 

Melissa Lopez, 24, Vet.

“I once knew a guy who used to go to escorts, then go home to his wife. Months later, I heard rumors that he was HIV positive and divorced.”

Is safe sex not enough anymore?

Maria Fernandez, 28, Sales associate

“One word…Mono”

Angela Browski, 35, Pharmacist

“I think you put a lot at stake when you are f**** around. Check the statistics, there’s thousands of people walking around ignorant to their health.”

Wean yourself off casual sex?

 “You don't wean yourself off casual sex, you stop it. You think about venereal disease, getting pregnant and what you want in your life and stop playing around with fire,” says Carol Lucas, 26.

So what did we learn?

-If you’re not careful, casual sex can be the kiss of death.

-Casual sex lets us explore our wildest most intricate fantasies with a person that isn’t concerned with us personally or likely to judge. 

-More and more, people are beginning to see the inherent risks of casual sex.  

While the 90s may have stripped away the final layers of the taboo of sexual promiscuity, this decade finds us rediscovering the old hesitance toward casual sex due to the risks, both newly discovered and newly created. There is still, without a doubt, a strong and pervasive sexual current, exhorting singles and philanderers alike to jump into the sack with whoever ends up next to them at the end of the night. But there is a parallel current emerging that, while not in opposition to the sexual urges of the first, demands that responsibility go hand-in-hand with our uninhibited sexual exploits.