Sexual Health

First things first: you need to take a pregnancy test. ASAP. You don’t have to save up for that: pregnancy tests will be free for you at many public health, sexual health or abortion clinics or providers, including most Planned Parenthood branches. As well, home pregnancy tests you can purchase at…

Bravo to you for considering safer sex practices as part of the sexual choices you and your girlfriend make in your relationship! Regardless of the history of the partners involved, thinking and talking about safety is really important. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of people, including some…

I’m not a doctor, but this sounds to me (as you say) like it could be an allergy to semen. But like I said, I’m not a doctor, and I can’t diagnose you over the internet, possibly from thousands of miles away. You say that you are on the pill now, so please consider going back to the healthcare…

Handwashing, seriously? Yep, handwashing. Seriously. (Well, mostly seriously.) Here’s how to do it and why it’s so important to do.

I realized that I was uncomfortable associating myself with genital herpes. Will people think I have it? Why else would someone write about genital herpes and risk that association if they didn’t have it, right? So I pressed on, putting myself at the center of an itty-bitty social experiment that resulted in some pretty big stuff.

With proper use, condoms actually break very rarely. The common mythology that condoms are flimsy and break all the time is just that: mythology, not reality. Different studies on latex condom breakage tend to reflect a breakage rate of around .4%, or only 4 breaks in every 1,000 uses.

Fairies’ question continued: 99% of the time I don’t feel bothered about it. But recently I had my first flare-up since I was infected two years ago and I feel so embarrassed that I let myself contract it. Worse, I row with my boyfriend about it because I feel like he wants to deny he gave it to me…

We get asked about this a lot; about whether once you have a more effective method of contraception than condoms, like a hormonal method or IUD, if they’re still needed to prevent pregnancy. The only right answer to that question, no matter who asks it, is that it really depends on what you and your…

I want to start by debunking a few things, especially one thing you said which anyone who helps people with sexuality for their job hears all the time. That’s what you said about the rest of the human population enjoying sex. When we talk about sex as something people usually do because they enjoy…

I thought someone who’d be perfect to answer your questions is one of my favorite young sexual health educators, the marvelous Joanna Dawson, MPH, Teen Health Educator at United Action for Youth. She had some great information and helps for you! Joanna said: To start, good on you and your partner…