The Netherlands’ public-health institute has backtracked on advice it gave last week recommending that single men and women organise a “seksbuddy”, or sex buddy, to help them through coronavirus lockdown.
In a typically open-minded intervention, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, or RIVM, had suggested that people without a permanent sexual partner could come to mutually satisfactory agreements with like-minded individuals. This was in order to help ease the “intelligent lockdown” the country has been living in since March 23rd, under which up to three visitors have been allowed into homes on the strict condition that they keep at least 1.5m apart.
“It makes sense that as a single [person] you also want to have physical contact”, the institute said last week, while warning that the risks of such intimacy should be managed. “Discuss how best to do this together,” the RIVM suggested. “For example, 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. Make good arrangements with this person about how many other people you both see. The more people you see, the greater the chance of (spreading) the coronavirus.”
The RIVM also had advice for people in a relationship with someone infected by coronavirus or in quarantine with suspected symptoms of the disease. “Don’t have sex with your partner if they have been isolated because of (suspected) coronavirus infection,” the RIVM said. “Sex with yourself or with others at a distance is possible (think of telling erotic stories, masturbating together).”
But the RIVM has now dropped the terms ‘sex buddy’ and ‘cuddle buddy’ from its quarantine advice for singles, as they “caused a lot of commotion”, a spokesman for the RIVM said. “It seemed as if we wanted to encourage the taking of a sex buddy, but that is absolutely not the case.” So what did it advise now? “In principle, we advise to only have sex with a steady partner. But we know that people do it anyway. And if so, we say: especially see if you can have sex with one partner”, to help reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19.
The Dutch government has been easing its lockdown in recent weeks. Hairdressers, nail salons and beauty parlours started work again a week ago, and restaurants, bars and cinemas are due to reopen on June 1st.
The measures come after evidence the spread of the coronavirus in the Netherlands has been controlled, although a further 10 people have died from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 5,680, and another 125 tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 43,995. – Guardian, agencies