Sex safety overview
Practising sex safety means protecting yourself from sexually transmitted infections (STI/STDs) and unplanned pregnancy.
Part of sex safety is keeping up to date about safety practices. There are many tools and skills you can use to make sex safer, and these safety recommendations are frequently updated with new developments.
Know the risks :
Anyone who has sexual contact is at risk for catching a sexually transmitted infection (STI/STD).
Different kinds of STIs can be spread by:
* skin to skin contact or sharing sex toys—no intercourse required! (herpes, hpv) * oral sex or deep kissing * unprotected vaginal or anal sex (all) * non-sexual activities like sharing equipment for drugs (straws, needles, etc), or using unsterilized needles for tattoos, piercings, or accupuncture
These infections can be passed from woman to man, man to woman, woman to woman, or man to man. Some can even be passed from an infected mother to her newborn baby.
It is not usually possible to tell if someone has an STI because many of them are “silent” infections; many people who have an STI don’t even know themselves that they have it! Your risk of STIs is based not only on your present or past partners, but also on all of the present and past partners of those partners. It’s no wonder they get passed around so much!
Some STIs can be cured with medication (chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis), but others cannot be. Some are caused by viruses that can stay in your body for a long time (going away, then coming back again) and some even stay in your body forever. With these viral types, you can only treat the symptoms when they arise, but you can never totally “cure” the virus.
Anyone who has sexual contact is at risk for catching a sexually transmitted infection (STI/STD).
Different kinds of STIs can be spread by:
* skin to skin contact or sharing sex toys—no intercourse required! (herpes, hpv) * oral sex or deep kissing * unprotected vaginal or anal sex (all) * non-sexual activities like sharing equipment for drugs (straws, needles, etc), or using unsterilized needles for tattoos, piercings, or accupuncture
These infections can be passed from woman to man, man to woman, woman to woman, or man to man. Some can even be passed from an infected mother to her newborn baby.
It is not usually possible to tell if someone has an STI because many of them are “silent” infections; many people who have an STI don’t even know themselves that they have it! Your risk of STIs is based not only on your present or past partners, but also on all of the present and past partners of those partners. It’s no wonder they get passed around so much!
Some STIs can be cured with medication (chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis), but others cannot be. Some are caused by viruses that can stay in your body for a long time (going away, then coming back again) and some even stay in your body forever. With these viral types, you can only treat the symptoms when they arise, but you can never totally “cure” the virus.
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