For most students, their school has a sex education class. That can be great, but what’s not so great is that those sex education classes literally teach you nothing because it chooses to censor a lot of vital information involving sex. So what happens when teens do not know much about sex? Well… babies and STDs. Sometimes we think the worst thing that can happen to us is getting pregnant, but that’s false. Imagine getting an STD (sexually transmitted diease) that causes you to become infertile or one that’s incurable so for the rest of your life you will have to take medicine. STD and STI are two terms that are used interchangeably but it is not the same thing. Technically STD’s start off as STI’s. An STI is a sexual transmitted infection. Yes, having an STD or STI is far worse than having children because they can alter your entire life. So how common are STDs in teenagers? People between the ages of 15 to 24, account for 50% of all new STDs. There are about 20 million new sexually transmitted infections in the United States each year. How is that possible? Everyone uses a condom, right?. Wrong. When we look at how STDs spread, we find that actually a lot of people do not use condoms.
In a recent poll we did, we found that many people do not use condoms:
Do you use protection all the time when you have sex?
— Affinity Magazine (@TheAffinityMag) September 13, 2016
“My girlfriend and I have both tested for STD’s and we both came back negative. She also is on contraceptives. There are times when we are more careful” says Alex, “we use condoms, but when they aren’t easily accessible we know we can have unprotected sex”. Commonly, when people are in a long term committed relationship, they do not use condoms. That’s not unheard of since there should be a sense of trust and you shouldn’t be sleeping around with anyone else. But this is actually dangerous to assume, truth of the matter is your partner could be unfaithful and you wouldn’t even know. It’s important to get tested all the time EVEN in a committed relationship, it can end up turning life threatening.
“Recently I was in a long term relationship. I thought we were committed. I did not realize at all that during the relationship, they were cheating on me dozens of times until I found out I had an STD that lead to cervical cancer.” says Grace.
Hearing a story like Grace’s makes you reconsider trusting your partner 100%, as a society in general many can not resist temptation. It’s the scariest thing when you find out that your partner has been cheating on you, but this is common and it’s why you should be conscious when not using condoms.
Sometimes we do know the risk of STDs but still decide not to use condoms but this is sometimes complicated. “I’m allergic to condoms because I have scoliosis and take depression hormone birth control pills. Shots were out of the question also,” says Katherine, “So I just abstain until I feel comfortable or in a relationship to know someone very well to have sex.” You are probably shocked to hear that yes people can be allergic to condoms. Most condoms are made of latex, so if you’re allegric to latex, chances are you are likely to also be allergic to avocados, bananas, passion fruit, kiwi, and chestnuts, and other fruits. If you’re allergic that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use condoms. Instead you can use Polyurethane condoms that can be found online.
Although allergies are a factor why many don’t use condoms, another factor is they just do not care. “Sometimes people get drunk and have sex without a condom. Obviously it’s a mistake and if you can’t stop yourself from doing that you shouldn’t be doing it. But people do make mistakes,” says Trisha, “Whenever I’m coherent I try to use protection. I’ve been lucky to never have gotten an STD.” Although Trisha was lucky enough to not catch an STD after having unprotected sex multiple times, she did once have a scare. “The first time I ever had sex I was drunk. I later found out that the guy has had sex with a lot of girls. One time he had chlamydia and he wasn’t sure if it was gone,” says Trisha, “I was very scared that time and got checked. At the same time I had a pregnancy scare. I was literally praying so hard for my period to come because
“If I would’ve been pregnant, I wouldn’t have known who the dad was because the condom kept breaking and one guy didn’t even wear a condom. I’m 17 and realize how stupid it all is now”
Sadly, homosexual people are the most at risk to catch an STD, especially HIV. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men made up an estimated 2% of the population but 55% of people living with HIV in the United States in 2013. Regardless of this fact, many decide to not use condoms. “I usually do use protection. There was this one time when I hooked up with a guy and we didn’t use protection, we were kind of in the moment,” says Jake, “I normally will stop guys before they penetrate me and ask them if they have condoms (they usually don’t). I was so scared afterwards. I was like OMG what did I just do, I know better than to have unprotected sex because of the increased risk for really getting anything”.
“It was like a nerve wreckage experience cause recently my county has an an outbreak of syphilis. I was hoping I didn’t have it!”
There is so much anxiety after you realized that you did not use a condom.
Maybe it’s society that deters people from using protection, “I’ve never gotten an STD or an STI or pregnant. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had about 60 scares from praying to have my period or tripping about a small bump and having it be razor bump,” says Chrissy. When asked why she doesn’t use protection Chrissy says, “I go back and forth in using protection. The stigma of carrying a condom as a girl. I know I’m not a slut and I know I’m a strong independent women but it looks so bad. Like I can’t keep it in my pants.” And maybe sometimes it’s due to us being naive due to the faulty sexual education that we are taught, “the reason I said sometimes is because during sex, a guy I’m having sex with said he can’t get hard with a condom. So I let him have sex with me with no condom,” says Jenna. “I know it’s bad, but it was just one person. I use protection with everyone else.” It’s no secret that many boys don’t like using condoms cause many say it decreases the pleasure, but sometimes your safety and health is worth more than pleasure.
So are STDs really that bad? You’re over-exaggerating, right? Nope. These are the most common ones and their effects, but I will not show you photos because that means I have to look at those gross photos too.
Chlamydia infects a woman’s cervix or it may infect the urethra in both men and women. It can also infect the rectum, throat, or eyes. You can bet this STD is common, 1 in 10 women test positive for it. The thing about Chlamydia is the symptoms are sometimes silent, so you won’t know you have it until you start bleeding during sex, or burning when you pee. Is it really that bad? YUP! If you have Chlamdyia and do not get tested, you may get PID (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease), which infects parts of your reproductive system. That means you will not be able to have children! Think of the kids! It also increases your chances of getting HIV. You can get this STD through skin to skin contact. You can treat Chlamydia by taking medicine and it clears up in 7 days!
Gonorrhea is caused by a certain type of bacteria. Commonly it infects the penis or vagina, but it can also infect the rectum, throat, or eyes. Like Chlamydia, Gonorrhea is a silent STD. So you may not know you have it. It can also lead to PID. You can take medicine to clear up Gonorrhea.
Hepatitis B is an infection caused by a virus. It infects the liver. Hepatitis is also silent, but has some symptoms that include brown pee,yellow skin or eyes, pain in the stomach, muscles or joints. Sadly, there is no cure for Hepatitis. For some people it may go away but for others they might live with it forever. Chronic hepatitis can lead to liver damage, cancer, or even death.
Herpes is a virus it is more common than a lot of people fathom – about 1 in 6 people between 14 and 49 are infected. Herpes is by skin to skin contact. There is NO cure for herpes. Once you have it, you have it forever.
Throughout your life, I am sure you have heard about HIV. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV is different because you don’t get it by skin to skin contact, you get it through bodily fluids. The scary thing is it can be months even years before you know you have HIV, so
You could be slowly dying but don’t know. There is NO cure for HIV.
HIV can cause blindness, weight loss, cancer, and even death.
Syphilis is caused by a bacteria. Usually you can tell because it causes rashes on the skin and sores. You can get it by kissing or having sex with someone who has the Syphilis sore on their mouth. The symptoms are so common you might not even notice, but the most common is a sore that is painless. Syphilis can be cured with medicine. But if not treated it can cause brain damage,blindness, and heart disease.
Honestly, condoms are not 100% protective, the condom doesn’t fully cover the penis allowing skin to skin contact. That’s why you should practice safe sex and only have sex with people whom you know their STD status. If you are interested in getting tested, find your local STD testing center here. Get tested whether you are in a committed relationship or not. It can save you a lot of anxiety and heartache. The fact that many people do not use protection is a reason why many of you may have an STD and combined with the fact that many are silent, so you will never feel symptoms of an STD depending on what you have. Having an STD doesn’t devalue who you are, everyone makes mistakes. You just have to take responsbility and learn from it. Always get tested and remember to use protection.
*Names were altered to protect anonymity
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