Horny Brits have been urged to “send nudes” to keep the spark alive following the government‘s sex ban.
Earlier this week, sex inside your own home with someone from a different household became illegal.
Both parties can now be prosecuted, with fines set to be issued to anyone breaching the new rules.
However, where does that, and indeed the coronavirus pandemic, leave Brits desperate to head out on dates and meet a significant other?
Well, according to sex and relationships author Hannah Witton, there are other ways of keeping the spark alive – and abiding by the government’s lockdown rules.
She told ED! she thinks the dating world post-coronavirus will be one of “cautious desperation”.
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She also hopes the new “awareness around public health means more people use condoms”.
Be more creative
Hannah told us people need to be more creative when it comes to intimacy.
She said: “Folks should keep doing what they’ve been doing – masturbating, sexting, phone sex, sending nudes (if you’re over 18), whatever you and the other person/people are comfortable with to experience sexual intimacy from a distance.”
Hannah added: “It’s also an opportunity to get creative with dating and think outside the box in terms of what you can do together when you’re apart.”
She also offered tips for things daters could do during lockdown.
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“According to the new rules, you can have gatherings in outdoor places of up to six people not from the same household, as long as you still maintain social distancing,” she said.
Please don’t kiss someone you don’t live with!
“So walks and picnics are allowed, but only do that if you can 100% trust yourselves to stay 2 meters apart,” she warned.
Stark warning
She also issued a stark warning for those looking to pucker up with someone from outside their own household.
“Please don’t kiss someone you don’t live with!” she exclaimed.
Asked when it’ll be safe to kiss someone from outside your own household, Hannah said: “That I can’t say. It’s completely down to the government restrictions.”
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Melissa Hobley of dating site OkCupid also said the dating landscape has changed.
And she thinks COVID-19 has “ushered in a new era of slow-dating”.
She told ED!: “Gone are the days of rushing to meet our dates for after-work cocktails or a movie night – with virtual dating, conversation and getting to know each other takes centre stage.”
And, she said, the pandemic may even mean singletons forge “deeper connections” with their partner-to-be.
Better emotional connections
“The enforced separation brought about by lockdown means singles are now looking to build emotional connections before physical ones. Daters have had fewer distractions, meaning they are able to build deeper connections, as well as having something more important to talk about and connect over emotionally – a global pandemic,” she said.
Melissa also revealed some rather interesting stats from users of the app.
She told us 79% of British daters plan on “continuing to connect with their matches on an emotional level first”.
Melissa did reveal, though, that 81% of respondents are looking forward to going back to “in-person dates” after lockdown.
“Yet, with continued fears about coronavirus together with social distancing rules making us all take things a little more slowly, we can predict that on in-person dates too, we will see deeper emotional connections take priority over physical,” she added.
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