How Craigslist keeps you from getting syphilis
Should hookup sites come with warning labels? San Francisco and New York State public health officials have been monitoring a rise in syphilis. Their research teams believe it's connected with the popularity of social networking sites — by which they seem to mean anything with a profile page — where users can arrange casual sex. So do AOL and Craigslist bear any blame for spreading totally preventable infections? SF's Director of STD Prevention and Control, Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, says Craigslist is actually part of the solution.
Slapping a preachy message on hookup sites warning users they could come home from their dates with more than a nasty hangover isn't a successful prevention strategy, Klausner explained to Valleywag: "Good public health is value-neutral. We don't blame and we don't judge, and we meet people where they're at." Most users already know sexually transmitted diseases are out there, but in order to actually practice safe sex, they need a solution that speaks to why they're on the site in the first place — to get laid without a lot of interference from outsiders, and preferably in three clicks or less.
So when San Francisco City Clinic patients began reporting more Craigslist casual connections, Klausner and his staff approached the site to address the increase in infections. Clinicians and Craigslist users now share a message board. "Users can post questions, and staff can post answers — users can post their own answers, as well, and make referrals to other sites. And over the years, new diagnoses of HIV and syphilis from Craiglist have gone down." What's worked in the case of Craigslist is to take advantage of the most sexually networked users already being there.
