Monthly Archives: May 2011

Birds and bees and the such…
By David Clarke

Of course there is no such thing as a coming out guide without mentioning the health aspects of playing the birds and the bees game. Let’s talk about sex.
First of all, it’s not who you are it’s what you do.
Now, the male and the female anatomy have given us advantages and disadvantages when it comes to STIs (sexually transmitted diseases) because due to their bodies men and women have different risks of unwanted and unpleasant consequences of a very pleasant activity.

Boys who have sex with boys have a higher risk of contracting a STI but that DOES NOT mean that girls who have sex with girls are immune to them! Body fluids, such as semen and vaginal fluids can carry viruses which can make you very sick.

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is of course the most known STI and it is still incurable. Once you have contracted the virus, it will always be in your body which means that you can also pass it on to somebody else. HIV can be mainly found in blood, semen and vaginal fluid. HIV can develop into AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), a disease that still kills thousands of people in the world every day.
HIV and AIDS were associated with the gay community for a long time because the first group affected were gay men in the US. The first name given to what we know as HIV today was GRID – Gay Related Immune Deficiency.

Since then the picture has changed drastically. Women who have sex with men are one of the groups considered at high risk because they can contract the virus easier than men because of their anatomy.

Certain sexual practices carry a higher risk of infection than others with anal penetration being on top, closely followed by vaginal sex. Oral sex is not usually considered high risk but it is not completely safe either. So, girls and boys, be safe in whatever you do for play and pleasure and use those nice condoms and dental dams when you’re fooling round. HIV, Hepatitis C, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Chlamydia, genital herpes and all those nasty surprises are not a nice thing to have to deal with, so better be safe than sorry.

And enjoy yourselves as much as you can.

David is the youth officer with Gay Wexford and the author of the
coming out guide on the Youth page at GayWexford.com. For more
details of Gay Youth Wexford see their facebook page or send an email
to  gayyouthwexford@gmail.com  

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