Sex and responsibility in the age of Covid
Love is once again a battlefield
I have single friends who are navigating the shoals of love and lust in the Age of Covid. It’s tricky, yet they persist. The heart wants what the heart wants.
One, in her 20s, goes to parties and picks up men. She’s a healthy young woman so her odds of dying even if she gets the novel coronavirus are slim. Fortunately I’ve stuck to video chats and social media to stay in touch with her since the lockdowns began.
Another friend, in her 40s, is wiser. She has met a couple of men in the last few months, but she moves slowly. She’ll Facetime with them and get to know them. Investigate their commitment to safety before she’ll do an in-person meeting. Even then, no touching for a while.
She asks them questions, because she wants to keep herself safe.
And that works really well, except when they lie to her.
Which one of them recently did. And it made her furious. Because it’s her life on the line.
“He was sleeping with other women, when he told me he wasn’t,” she told me.
“Well, men lie,” I said.
“He should have been honest,” she said. “I didn’t expect a commitment. I told him I was fine if he wanted to see other people…
