Sexually transmitted infections are one part of sexual health, but that’s not all! Any aspect of health or healthcare that is related to sex and reproduction is about sexual health: menstruation, common infections like yeast or bacterial infections, birth control and abortion, health conditions like endometriosis, PCOS or phimosis, vaccinations, pain with sex, safer sex and other preventative sexual health practices and yep, STIs, too.
Sexual Health
Highlighted content
Rose
CONTENT NOTE: includes explicit descriptions of medical abuse. I was sexually abused as a young child. I'm 25 now, and I've never had anything inside my vagina. I tried to have a pap smear when I was...
Advice
Article
How Not to Get Pregnant : Five Things You Can Do to Most Effectively Prevent Pregnancy
- Heather Corinna
Articles and Advice in this area:
Advice
- Heather Corinna
In order for oral contraceptives – the birth control pill – to be effective, they need to be taken every day. Missing one every now and then so long as you make it up within a day or so won’t likely compromise your effectiveness all that much, but if you’re missing a few pills regularly, that’s…
Advice
- Sarah Riley
The answer to this depends entirely on exactly what you’re talking about here. If you’re wondering whether a gynecologist can tell if a woman has ever had an orgasm, then the answer is no. Orgasm does not permanently change the state of the genitals in any way. There would be nothing special for the…
Advice
- Sarah Riley
Not having sexual contact with anyone in the past does decrease your risk of STI transmission, however it does not totally negate the risk. First of all, some STIs can be transmitted via non-sexual means. One example that works really well when we’re talking about oral sex is herpes. As is noted in…
Advice
- Sarah Riley
Absolutely! Hands are pretty darn dirty places. I mean, think about all the things we touch in a given day! Your hands can definitely carry bacteria and germs on them. Those nasties can then easily make their way into your body if a partner performs manual sex on you. Vaginal tissue is pretty…
Advice
- Heather Corinna
If you had a partner before him for oral, vaginal or anal sex, that could be who you got it from and your current partner managed not to contract it from you (now or yet), or contracted it so recently that he isn’t testing positive yet. Or, your current partner’s test wasn’t accurate, or he said he…
Advice
- Heather Corinna
While some doctors may choose not to see children or adolescents in their practice, period – because they just don’t specialize in that group – it sounds far more likely your stepmother was simply being dishonest with you. If her doctor was someone who chose only to see adults, he or she most…
Advice
- Sarah Riley
Vaginal dryness can be one of the more common side effects of hormonal birth control methods (like the pill). Vaginal discharge and the lubrication that’s produced during arousal are influenced by what’s going on with our hormones (to at least some extent). When you’re using a hormonal method of…
Advice
- Heather Corinna
(Jane’s question, continued) What we did was very irresponsible I understand that and since I was 17 I’ve been very careful with these things because at age 17 I fell pregnant WHILE taking the pill correctly. My then BF made me have an abortion. He took my by the hand and had it all arranged. I…
Advice
- Susie Tang
Have you EVER had any sexual contact including sexual intercourse and dry sex with direct genital contact? And have you never been raped or experienced a sexual assault that involved genitals coming in direct contact? If you have NEVER EVER NEVER experienced any of these things, then you are the…
Advice
- Susie Tang
Second question first: Correct and consistent condom use is a highly effective way to prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. As for teens and condoms there are a few issues at hand, and most of them can be remedied with the right education and information. Teens sometimes have…
