# Would you being willing to have sex if it meant you'd get a cold?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 20, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797 "2009-09-20T03:54:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/1 "2009-09-20T03:54:53Z")
This question popped into my head today at work… because, well, it’s kinda where I’m at right now. 🙂
My SO and I both smoke, and I know she’s been suffering from a heavy chest/nasal cold she’s been dealing with for about 4 days now. I’ve taken the practical measures of no mucous exchanges and such (blow a kiss, no real kisses), and I’ve managed to stay free of evil germs so far. Just so I don’t sound like a cruel, insensitive asshole, I’d make the same concessions to her if I were the sick one. 🙂
I’m pretty sure I had an opportunity last night (she’s starting to feel better). I didn’t take it any further because her cold is winding down, but I don’t think it’s gone yet, and I can wait another 48 hours until it’s cleared totally.
What would you do in that situation? We’re talking a common 3-6 day chest cold here, not herpes or AIDS. 😛
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/2 "2009-09-20T03:57:45Z")
In your situation (that is, living with the person that is sick) I’d go for it under the assumption I’m going to get sick anyways just by being around them so much.
Actually, I’d go for it even if I didn’t live with the other person, but then again, I’m a horny 20something male. 😃
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### Author:  [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/3 "2009-09-20T03:59:35Z")
I’d go for it, even if I knew I could avoid the cold by not doing it.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/4 "2009-09-20T04:04:37Z")
First, ask your wife whether she feels up to it.
Second, avoid anything oral.
Third, it wouldn’t hurt to “use protection.”
Fourth, yeah, you’ll probably catch it anyway.
Oh, and by the way, nothing you could do with your wife is nearly as risky as the fact that you both smoke. But you didn’t ask about that.
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### Author:  [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/5 "2009-09-20T04:07:45Z")
In a heartbeat! But not so much if _ **I** _ had the cold.
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/6 "2009-09-20T04:10:15Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#):
>
> In your situation (that is, living with the person that is sick) I’d go for it under the assumption I’m going to get sick anyways just by being around them so much.
>
> Actually, I’d go for it even if I didn’t live with the other person, but then again, I’m a horny 20something male. 😃
That’s the thing that’s biting at the back of my head. She’s coughed up so much crap/virus into our comforter, that I’m thinking I definitely should’ve been infected by now at day #4. So the back of my brain was fighting with my penis. Went kinda like:
Penis: You know, she’s been coughing up a lung for the past 3 days, that virus has to be everywhere already, you probably had that virus before and our white blood cells have the antibody at the ready. Go for the gold!
Brain: Hold on there penis, we have been taking precautionary measures and maybe those are what have saved us from 4 days of suffering. Can’t you wait another 48 hours and make sure we are both ok, and the virus has cleared her system?
Penis: We haven’t had sex in 9 days! Between her period, and the cold which kicked in during the middle of the period, I’m horny.
Brain: Well, we can write off the days she was on her period. We wouldn’t have gotten a piece during that time anyways… but can’t you wait another 48 hours penis?? She’ll be horny by then too.
And I guess that’s when my brain won out. Congratulations to anyone who read all that, that’s the longest typed soliloquy I’ve ever typed between my brain and penis. LOL
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/7 "2009-09-20T04:11:35Z")
P.S.- I don’t think I have a chance tonight. She’s busy working on her hobby stuff, while I was out drinking at the bars w/ friends, lol. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/8 "2009-09-20T04:13:28Z")
Well Brain makes a good point, like always, the bastard. It seems your problem was waiting those first four days at all.
Here’s how it woulda been with me:
Me: Hey babe you sound like you’re gettin’ sick. You feelin’ ok?
Her: [An answer of some sort]
Me: Well wanna have sex before you’re too sick to want to?
😃
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/9 "2009-09-20T04:18:26Z")
It is an established fact that cold viruses are spread by inhalation not mouth to mouth contact so having sex will make little difference.
For example:
[The Hindu Sci Tech](http://www.hindu.com/seta/2005/02/24/stories/2005022400521500.htm)…
\ ***French kissing harmless**
Take kissing. You would have thought that French kissing a snotty lover was a bad idea on many levels. But contrary to widespread belief, it is very hard to catch a cold by exchanging saliva. In 1984, researchers had the unenviable job of observing hundreds of students kissing. Kissing, they concluded, resulted in no transmission of the cold virus.
“The virus travels in the mucus from the respiratory system,” explains Professor RonEccles, director of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University, Wales. “Unless you have a bad cough, and some of the respiratory mucus has made its way into your saliva, the cold virus will not be transmitted by kissing.”
Most of us think colds are highly contagious. Certainly, most adults get two to five colds a year (schoolchildren can catch double this number). But scientists say colds are not, in fact, terribly easy to pass on.
This is because the mucus from the respiratory tract of someone infected has to get directly into your respiratory tract.
To do this, an infected person must either sneeze or cough near you so you inhale their infected droplets, or touch a surface, allowing you pick the virus up on your fingers.\*
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/10 "2009-09-20T04:19:01Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#):
>
> Me: Well wanna have sex before you’re too sick to want to?
> 😃
Everything’s 20/20 in hindsight, **lol**.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/11 "2009-09-20T04:22:02Z")
> [@Mr\_Buttons](#):
>
> Everything’s 20/20 in hindsight, **lol**.
True true. Just learn from this experience for the future. 😉
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/12 "2009-09-20T04:27:39Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> This is because the mucus from the respiratory tract of someone infected has to get directly into your respiratory tract.
>
> To do this, an infected person must either sneeze or cough near you so you inhale their infected droplets, or touch a surface, allowing you pick the virus up on your fingers.\*
I gotta give a big old :dubious: to this one. How many of us have ever gotten to french kissing without heavy breathing going on?
Yeah, if I walked up to a random stranger and just stuck my tongue down her throat without any warning, we might get away ok… When I making out with a women, there tends to be heavy breathing going on by both parties. Would that not qualify as exchanging respiratory “deposits”?
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/13 "2009-09-20T04:34:44Z")
Am I the only one who thinks it’s actually kinda hot to do it while she’s sick? 😃
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/14 "2009-09-20T04:35:49Z")
Yes I do believe you are. 😛
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/15 "2009-09-20T04:37:11Z")
This is not hypothetical for me. I’ve done it more than once. Who gives a shit about a cold? If you live with the person you’re probably going to get it anyway.
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### Author:  [@cgg419](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cgg419)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/16 "2009-09-20T17:14:30Z")
Another vote for non-hypothetical…yes I ended up getting sick, but it was WORTH IT 😃 🆒
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/17 "2009-09-20T17:19:52Z")
Yep.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/18 "2009-09-20T17:28:15Z")
What’s wrong with rationalizing that if you turn your head to one side, you won’t catch it?
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/19 "2009-09-20T17:41:46Z")
> [@Mr\_Buttons](#):
>
> That’s the thing that’s biting at the back of my head. She’s coughed up so much crap/virus into our comforter, that I’m thinking I definitely should’ve been infected by now at day #4. So the back of my brain was fighting with my penis. Went kinda like:
>
> Penis: You know, she’s been coughing up a lung for the past 3 days, that virus has to be everywhere already, you probably had that virus before and our white blood cells have the antibody at the ready. Go for the gold!
>
> Brain: Hold on there penis, we have been taking precautionary measures and maybe those are what have saved us from 4 days of suffering. Can’t you wait another 48 hours and make sure we are both ok, and the virus has cleared her system?
>
> Penis: We haven’t had sex in 9 days! Between her period, and the cold which kicked in during the middle of the period, I’m horny.
>
> Brain: Well, we can write off the days she was on her period. We wouldn’t have gotten a piece during that time anyways… but can’t you wait another 48 hours penis?? She’ll be horny by then too.
>
> And I guess that’s when my brain won out. Congratulations to anyone who read all that, that’s the longest typed soliloquy I’ve ever typed between my brain and penis. LOL
I’m forced to note that it’s not really a soliloquy unless your penis or brain is addressing the audience, and especially not if they’re both doing it.
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### Author:  [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-being-willing-to-have-sex-if-it-meant-youd-get-a-cold/510797/20 "2009-09-20T19:36:05Z")
> [@appleciders](#):
>
> I’m forced to note that it’s not really a soliloquy unless your penis or brain is addressing the audience, and especially not if they’re both doing it.
I concur.
It’s actually a dialogue, which is intercourse between two parties, as opposed to a soliloquy, which is a bit like wanking.
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