If you’ve been curious about exploring your options when it comes to casual sex, you’re not alone. It’s growing more socially acceptable by the minute, as more men and women alike are embracing the concept. If you’re still hung up on puritanical beliefs surrounding sex dating, it could be that you’ve bought into a lot of outdated myths surrounding sex outside of a committed relationship. Let’s clear those up once and for all so that you can get on with enjoying casual sex without the misplaced guilt.

1. Only Assholes Have Casual Sex with Women Outside of Committed Relationships – False. It is way more of an asshole move to get into a committed relationship with someone when you’re not ready for one or just because you want to have sex with the girl. Tiger Woods. Need I say more? Being upfront about the fact that you really just want to have some fun in bed isn’t being a jerk, it’s being honest. It gives the woman a chance to make an informed decision, so she can decide whether or not she wants that, too. If it isn’t what she’s looking for, she can move on without getting hurt. If it is what she’s looking for it, she’s an adult capable of making decisions and you should trust that she knows what she wants. It would be insulting to presume she was being taken advantage of when she wants casual sex, too.

2. Casual Sex Leads to STDs – Only if you’re stupid about it. Unprotected sex spreads disease, and that can happen in any kind of sexual relationship, casual sex or otherwise. Lots of people have contracted STDs from unprotected sex in what they thought were monogamous relationships. Use a condom each and every time and get tested regularly. While there are no guarantees in life, if you do those two things, your chances of catching and spreading STDs will remain low.

3. Only Nasty, Slutty Girls Have Casual Sex – Oh please. This isn’t 1954, although you wouldn’t know it by the way some people talk about women who have casual sex. A woman who engages in casual sex does not automatically equate with a woman who will have sex with anything that moves. Plenty of thoughtful, intelligent, and discerning women enjoy the benefits of casual sex. Women aren’t different creatures who should be held to different standards than the guys. Let go of the double standard, or you’ll miss out on connecting with some really cool women.

4. Casual Sex is Meaningless and Will Leave You Feeling Empty and Unfulfilled – It can be, but then again, so can sex within the confines of a committed relationship. Casual sex can be as meaningless or as meaningful as the two people engaging in the act decide that it should be. Sometimes the meaning is simply making each other feel good, and that in and of itself can be meaningful enough in a mutually beneficial hookup.

5. Casual Dating Sites are Scams – This one is both a truth and a myth. Unfortunately, there are a fair amount of casual dating sites out there that are either scams themselves or allow con artists to take over the site with fake profiles meant to separate men from their money. This is a shame, because it mars the reputations of all casual dating sites. There are many reputable sex dating sites that do a great job of keeping con artists at bay, and provide a great place for people looking for a fling to connect. If you stick to the sites with proven good reputations, you can have a ton of fun with very little risk. Remember, if you want to join a casual dating site, we’ve conducted extensive five point tests of all of the most well-known websites to take the guess work out of it. Our testers found that the most legit sites for meeting real women who are looking for sex buddies are SocialSex.com, Fuckbook.com, Sexfinder.com, EroticAds.com and EroticSearch.com. These sites do a great job of policing their forums to keep scammers at bay, and their male to female membership ratios are excellent.

Hopefully that clears up any misplaced guilt you’ve been feeling about sex dating and flings. When consenting adults decide to hookup for sex, it can be a mutually rewarding experience where no one gets hurt. If something causes no harm to either person and feels great to both, what on earth could be wrong with that?