SAFER Sex TOOLs
STI Screening
If you are sexually active, getting tested for STIs is one of the most important things you can do to protect your health. Make sure you have an open and honest conversation about your sexual history and STI testing with your doctor and ask whether you should be tested for STIs. If you are not comfortable talking with your regular health care provider about STIs, there are many clinics that provide confidential and free or low-cost testing.
Avoiding Injury
When we talk about safe sex, we usually mean using protection with a respectful partner. But even if you’re comfortable with consent and contraception, lovemaking still entails some physical risks. Let’s admit it: Passion can quickly turn painful when accidents occur during sex. Even for the most connected couples, one wrong move can replace moans of ecstasy with screams of agony – and leave us sidelined from seduction for the foreseeable future.
PrEP
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) is when people at very high risk for HIV take daily medicine to prevent HIV. PrEP can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout your body. When taken daily, PrEP is highly effective for preventing HIV from sex or injection drug use. PrEP is much less effective when it is not taken consistently.
HPV
Vaccination
HPV vaccination is preventing cancer-causing infections and precancers.
HPV infections are so common that nearly all men and women will get at least one type of HPV at some point in their lives. Nearly 80 million Americans are currently infected with some type of HPV. About 14 million Americans, including teens, become infected each year.
HPV is spread through intimate skin-to-skin contact. You can get HPV by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the virus.
Talk to your healthcare provider or visit one of the local clinics to learn more about the vaccination.