Members on new STD dating websites enter their name, age, sex, location and STD type when they sign up. The services let people to get right to the point and can be a way for people who thought their dating life was over to get back into the game, one company said.
New dating websites are making it easier for people with STDs to find love.
Services like STD Soulmates and Positive Singles match members to people with the same sexually-transmitted disease — from herpes to HIV.
“It provides a particular service to people who otherwise assume their dating life is over,” Steve Kasper, a consultant for the dating website STDMatch.com, told the Daily News.
Being upfront about their STD “eliminates some of the awkwardness” of typical dating, he said.
Most people don’t know how to tell someone they’re dating they have an STD, Kasper explained. The Internet makes it easier.
“You’re surrounded by people who understand you, who have been through what you’re going through,” he said. “It’s not just about dating, it’s a support group.”
STDMatch.com, which has more than 700,000 members worldwide, was created in 2006. Since then, several similar sites have sprouted.
There are more than 110 million cases of sexually-transmitted infections every year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most common are chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B virus and herpes.
Herpes is the most common among STDMatch members, Kasper said.
STDs are the latest niche in an online dating market that already caters to everything else — cougars, Christians, widows, animal lovers, disabled people.
“We’ve got sites for just about every type of lifestyle and interest out there,” said Kasper, whose company runs several specialty dating services
.
“In this business, we’re trying to provide a platform for people to get what they want out of life. And that’s to be happy, and to find similar people.”
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