Promiscuity - does this exist anymore?

I don’t think promiscuity means having several consecutive sexual partners if they are committed relationships at the time.
I think it means having lots of one night stands.
I rented a bedsitter in 1969. The landlady gave me clear instructions - one boyfriend staying overnight was acceptable.
A parade of different ones wasn’t

I really have no idea about what other people, young or old, get up to these days. But I’ve read that STDs have had a resurgence in the older generation.

I think it can be kept as a word but should no longer be used as a criticism of sexual behaviour, it can be used in other circumstances.

If someone has lots of one night stands though, it is nobody's business but their own.

It just means one more person than you are prepared to sleep with.

So what else would you call bed-hopping ? Permissive ?

EllanVannin

So what else would you call bed-hopping ? Permissive ?

Freedom of choice. Fun.

I think if you still want to use it as a descriptive word or label the definition is still apt now, for all sexes and at all ages. It’s just that society is generally more liberal now and most people aren’t bothered by the concept.

I would have said that at one point vampire, now I would say just too much effort

EllanVannin friendly, warm, pleasing oneself.

Crossed posts vampirequeen

It still exists, it just isn’t frowned upon these days.

The dictionary definition is haphazard, casual,
without discrimination.

I think it’s a really useful word to apply to behaviour and lifestyles including sexual behaviour.

But you could have lots of sexual partners and not be indiscriminate or haphazard.

Peasblossom

The dictionary definition is haphazard, casual,
without discrimination.

I think it’s a really useful word to apply to behaviour and lifestyles including sexual behaviour.

But you could have lots of sexual partners and not be indiscriminate or haphazard.

I think the promiscuity bit is relevant when there is no regard at all to the personality(ies) of the partner(s) but instead only for physical satisfaction. It becomes no more than scratching an itch. Not every sexual encounter will become a lasting relationship, or the love of one's life, but there should be at least a possibility of that happening.
As the song in South Pacific goes,
"You've got to have a dream
If you don't have a dream
How you gonna have a dream come true?"

I think the word is very judgemental when applied to sexual behaviour. I didn’t get married until my mid thirties and had a range of relationships before then, some of which were very brief and certainly took place with no expectation of anything except an enjoyable physical experience. All that matters is a matching of expectations and not exploiting someone.

The double standard very much exists today

I know people for whom sex is "haphazard, casual, without discrimination."

It probably fits "promiscuous" in terms of statement of fact!

Yes indeed - compare what is acceptable behaviour with Johnson and had it been May ?

That was in reply to Hithere

What is more:
If a woman doesn't "put out" or is willing to engage in sexual acts at a certain time, she is a prude and a tease.

Seriously, women cannot win.

I don't know why anyone should apply the word promiscuous to woman, I'd apply it to anyone who has indiscriminate sex doesn't matter if they are male, female, straight or gay. It's not a judgement it's a description.

foxie48

I don't know why anyone should apply the word promiscuous to woman, I'd apply it to anyone who has indiscriminate sex doesn't matter if they are male, female, straight or gay. It's not a judgement it's a description.

But what does indiscriminate mean - less than casual? Just anyone, literally?

suziewoozie
“I didn’t get married until my mid thirties and had a range of relationships before then, some of which were very brief and certainly took place with no expectation of anything except an enjoyable physical experience.”
Clever girl Suzie! That’s what I should have done instead of rushing into marriage!

I think that the concept of 'promiscuity' as a bad thing is responsible for so much heartache, and I would be pleased to see it drop from use.

Women have borne the brunt of this judgemental and hypocritical notion for centuries, and it is time it ended. I remember girls being considered 'no better than they should be', 'having to get married' and the men who married them being all but sainted for 'standing by her', even when they were violent or unfaithful. People counting on their fingers when a baby came along within a year of marriage, so that they could work out whether it was a 'shotgun wedding'. Girls having their freedom restricted in case they inflamed the passions of a man and 'led him on' so that he 'got carried away'.

So much misery, and for what?

I think that the word promiscuous is obsolete in the context of single people of either gender having many partners. People are pretty much free these days to play the field and decide for themselves how many partners they have in the course of their lives. I think that the term promiscuous can still be considered relevant where cheaters are concerned. People in long term relationships who secretly have someone on the side, with no intention of choosing one or the other, until they are found out, can be considered promiscuous because they are secretly running two [sometimes more] at once when the other partner is totally oblivious. Not obviously when a relationship has run it's course and there's been a breakup but when one partner just can't settle to one relationship at a time I think the term promiscuous can sometimes still apply.