1. There’s lots of stigma about herpes, which means a lot of people have a lot of feelings about contracting or being at risk for contracting it, which is understandable.
2. That doesn’t justify being a jerk about it.
3. It’s hard to tell from the letter how much of a jerk this person actually was. Saying “this makes me pretty upset and I think I need a couple of weeks to cool off” and at the end of the two weeks “I’m still sort of angry, the blister is painful and makes me feel ugly” is different from “what the fuck you gave me herpes that’s disgusting/you’re disgusting I can’t look at you right now” and then two weeks later really harping on the ugliness and soreness and trying to make someone feel guilty, and there’s a fair spectrum in between.
Basically my read depends a lot more on how this dude has been handling his feelings and their impact on the LW than on the fact that it involves herpes.
no subject
2. That doesn’t justify being a jerk about it.
3. It’s hard to tell from the letter how much of a jerk this person actually was. Saying “this makes me pretty upset and I think I need a couple of weeks to cool off” and at the end of the two weeks “I’m still sort of angry, the blister is painful and makes me feel ugly” is different from “what the fuck you gave me herpes that’s disgusting/you’re disgusting I can’t look at you right now” and then two weeks later really harping on the ugliness and soreness and trying to make someone feel guilty, and there’s a fair spectrum in between.
Basically my read depends a lot more on how this dude has been handling his feelings and their impact on the LW than on the fact that it involves herpes.