Promiscuity is linked to maintaining sexual relations with different groups or partners.
When it comes to making clear the etymological origin of the word promiscuity , we can clearly establish that it is found in Latin. Specifically, it emanates from the word promiscuus , which can be translated as "scrambled" and is composed of two different parts: the prefix pro -, which is equivalent to "forward", and the verb miscere , which is synonymous with "mix." .
The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines promiscuity as coexistence with people of the different sex or mixing and confusion . The concept, however, is associated with the practice of sexual relations with different sexual partners or groups .
It is, therefore, a notion opposite to monogamy (linked to maintaining relationships with a single partner). Promiscuity can occur both between humans and animals.
Promiscuity according to the WHO
For the World Health Organization (WHO) , promiscuity occurs when a subject has more than two sexual partners in less than six months . This meaning, however, is not exact since the idea of promiscuity can vary over time and according to cultures.
In addition to all the above, it must be established that it is considered that there are two types of promiscuity. Thus, on the one hand, there would be the passive call, which is what is carried out by people who are conditioned by society and who, therefore, see their sexual condition repressed. Sometimes, occasionally they can be unfaithful, reaching several partners at the same time, without them knowing it.
And on the other hand, there is active promiscuity. In this case, we can say that this is what is practiced by those who continually enjoy sporadic sexual encounters, without any type of sentimental attachment. Such is the way in which they live their sexual condition that this may mean that they are regular clients of brothels or that they participate in dates with a high sexual content such as threesomes or orgies.
To avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, promiscuity requires the use of condoms.
The social view
In large Western cities, for example, these days it is common for young people to have casual sexual relations when they go out dancing or having fun at night. However, this behavior is not usually socially condemned nor does it include accusations of promiscuity.
While socially promiscuity appears as the opposite of monogamy, religion opposes the term to chastity (the virtue that involves abstention from carnal pleasures).
With the so-called sexual liberation, promiscuity became more tolerated and lost its scandalous streak. The daily lives of certain people include promiscuity as something common.
Currently, although society has been changing and promiscuity is more tolerated, this attitude is still not equally well regarded depending on whether the subject is a man or a woman. If it is a man who carries it out, it is considered to be a flirt, but in many areas if the same thing is done by a female, she is accused of being “anyone.”
It is important to keep in mind that, beyond any moral condemnation of this type of behavior, promiscuity requires the practice of safe sex to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.