Sexual Health

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.

Highlighted content

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

frenchiemathwhiz's question continued: I was standing by him because I've freaked out about stuff before, and I thought he was there for me. But apparently not. Anyway, we were each other's first sexual partners—vaginal, oral, etc. I'm moving to a new city and a new job in a few weeks (something I...

Advice
  • Jenna Gaarde

Audrey's question continued: So I'm looking into alternatives. I followed the links on this site about contraception but it looks like my only options are barriers or hormones and that seems like such a drag for me as I'm in a long-term relationship. Please help? WHEN will there be a male...

Advice
  • Robin Mandell

In a sentence: you could just take one out of your bag, hand it to your partner, and say "Here, put this on." Or, "Let's get a condom on first." Or, if you want to keep the touch between the two of you going without a condom-stop, how about, "Why don't I slide this on for you." Remember, you can put...

Advice
  • Jenna Gaarde

tsunamichick's question continued: Then a week later my doctor called me to have me come in that day and I couldn't wait 4 more days to discuss it. She told me that I had high risk HPV and she suggested a cone biopsy or LEEP procedure. I then went to see the specialist who said I had some stage 3...

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

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...

Advice
  • Robin Mandell

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...

Advice
  • Justin Hancock

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...

Article
  • Heather Corinna

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

Article
  • Leah Berkenwald

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.

Announcement
  • Heather Corinna

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.