Oh dear, another scaremongering thread!
Where is the empirical evidence?
Yes, OW has to be safer than OWO, which in turn is safer than bareback sex, but we live through life on a risk versus reward basis. How many people risk crossing the road at a point convenient to them rather than walk an extra 50yds or so to the relative safety of a pelican crossing?
Anecdotal evidence like "I've caught two STDs, I'm out" counts for nothing and I know of at least one WG who has stopped offering OWO purely on the "evidence" of some of these UKP scaremongering threads. Get yourself regularly checked at the GUM clinic, and if you have regulars ask them if they do too (in a subtle way!), that way the risk is reduced. Personally I don't want to go back to the old days of OW being the norm and can still remember the thrill of the first time I received OWO from a WG.
I'm a married punter, but as we have no sex I'm not worried about passing anything on to the OH.
On a punting forum I'd say the anecdotal evidence of fellow punters is of some value vs general published statistical information. Punters represent a niche group with very specific risk profile. There will never be forthcoming any empirical evidence specific to the topic of "punter risk for OW vs OWO".
Ultimately my view is you can't accept on face value an escort who says she's tested regularly. None are going to say "nah I never bother" are they?! Even if you're a regular you can't guarantee they are telling the truth unless you accompany them to the clinic yourself - or at least see a results txt or some other evidence that couldn't easily be faked.
Even then, I caught gonorrhea from OWO with a regular who I absolutely trusted and believed when she told me she was tested monthly - but her last few "regular tests" were by her GP not at a GUM clinic and her GP did not routinely offer a throat swab to someone with no symptoms so it slipped by.
I have also witnessed first hand another escort who was told by a duo partner that she may have gonorrhea but who regardless carried on working for more than a week while awaiting her test results. I therefore feel a little less trusting of WGs who claim they take their health very seriously. Some clearly take their income far more seriously than their health or that of their clients.
And what about punters who only ever see an escort once? Are you really going to try and insist on seeing evidence of recent STI tests before visiting every WG? Good luck with that one.
But even when you have a very diligent escort who is tested thoroughly say every month the risk is still there - most STI's still have an incubation period during which there are no symptoms, where they will not be detected by the GUM clinic, but can still be transmitted, so there is probably a good 2-4 week period where even the most diligent WG, having been infected by another punter through OWO, can still infect you.
In short I would say that you cannot rely on "regular testing" to significantly reduce STI risk.
So if you really can't afford to catch something from OWO then stick with OW. For some punters it would be the end of their cosy little world if they brought an STI home so not sure it's scaremongering to warn of the potential risks.
But let's not forget even switching to covered oral is not a 100% answer if your concern is being caught out by your OH. In the same 6 month period that I got gonorrhea I also contracted something very similar to genital warts - an STI that can be transmitted simply through bumping crotches - just skin to skin contact - and this produced a highly visible rash and left visible scars weeks afterwards - definitely not so easy to hide even if you're not having sex with your OH.
All I can say is I'm really glad I waited til I was single before punting as it probably would have been a much less amicable - and therefore much more expensive - split with my ex if I'd been caught with my pants down so to speak.
But you pay's your money you takes your chances, and anyway nobody ever really catches one of these things do they?
