A lot of folks tend to focus on the who, what, and why when diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection or disease. They want to know who they got it from, what they did (or didn’t do) to put them at risk, and why them. While it’s understandable to want answers, often, the details are […]
Herpes – My Biggest Fear is Judgment from Friends – STI Interviews
Interviews like this one remind me how important it is to continue advocating for comprehensive safer sex education. Unfortunately, it’s the norm rather than the exception that people get diagnosed and know very little about how they contracted an infection – testing, transmission, risk, you name it; most people know very little about STDs, in […]
HIV – I Didn’t Know How to Internalize It – STI Interviews
I often grapple with the question, ‘Why didn’t you tell someone you had an infection?’ As someone who’s also learned the hard way when to tell someone and how to tell someone, I receive quite a number of questions from readers asking me how to overcome the overwhelming sense of denial and fear that has lead to […]
Genital Herpes – I Am Like an Ostrich – STI Interviews
It never ceases to amaze me some of the simply awful things people will say to or about someone with an STD, and in this case, genital herpes. As if an STD diagnosis weren’t enough, couple that with hearing the most audacious reactions from someone you trust. It’s enough to make anyone want to stick their head […]
HSV2 – Too Nervous to Touch Me – STI Interviews
It’s always a bit disheartening when I read that partners are having a hard time being intimate with someone who has an STD, in this case, HSV2. I’ve been lucky to find mates who were both interested in being sexually healthy while also keen on enjoying all types of sexual activities together. However, that is not always the case. […]
HPV & Chlamydia – I Asked to Use a Condom but Didn’t Insist – STI Interviews
This interview is a fantastic example of how people from all walks of life and with all educational backgrounds contract sexually transmitted infections. They are an inherent risk to something (intimacy/sex) that also elicits innumerable rewards. Understanding those risks and rewards is part of being sexually healthy, and, ultimately, sexually responsible. No one wants an infection […]
HSV2 – He Never Bothered to Tell Me – STI Interviews
In compiling these interviews, it never ceases to amaze me the similarities across one another’s narratives, yet, still, how alone, hopeless, and ostracized we can feel. No matter someone’s age or background, the affect of an STD diagnosis – in this case, HSV2 – transcends all boundaries, and often leaves those who are diagnosed in the […]
Herpes Never Scared a Man Away – HSV1 Genitally – STI Interviews
People with STDs are often characterized as villains – individuals that should be avoided, because they’re bad people or they will only intentionally infect someone else. What’s silly about that portrayal is everyone with an STD was once someone without an STD. Rarely, does the other side of the story get explained or does a […]