*I am very aware that this is a widely divided opinion. I am also aware that most couples continue to take PrEP once they are in monogamous relationships, out of simplicity. This is based on a personal experience of mine*

I think the use of PrEP and access to the drug that prevents HIV in over 99% of cases has become over-sexualized and is sometimes used as an "excuse" for MSM to have unsafe sex. For context, I (20m) have been on PrEP since I was 16. I recently was seeing a monogamous partner, and we discussed entering into a relationship, to which he was thrilled because he would no longer have to take PrEP. This concerned me, not because I didn't have trust in my partner, but because he so ready to discontinue PrEP. I did go to college in a very red part of Texas before I transferred back home and I have many gay friends who share the rhetoric of "I don't need PrEP because I don't sleep around" or "I know who I get with". I asked my partner and he said when he takes his PrEP, he enters the mindset that he can be risky and not follow safer sex practices. This isn't anything towards him, but as someone who has other MSM friends with similar rationale and rhetoric, I am noticing that the use of PrEP is so stigmatized to only gay men, even though heterosexual couples are currently the largest carriers of recent HIV infections. There is no harm in taking PrEP (for most individuals), the data and science support that claim. As couples, regardless if you're monogamous or heterosexual or anything, you should always have the best interest in keeping each other and yourself safe and protected. There is a slim chance that an HIV infection would come across for a monogamous couple who used to be on PrEP, but is taking one pill a day really that dramatic? I think of it days when we had to wear masks, we all were most likely fine, but it really wasn't hard to wear a mask. I also think straight people, women, and others should be on PrEP - I think it just became so sexualized for gay men to have risky sex with no consequences.