Menstuff® has compiled information on the issue of Safer Sex.
Is Safe Sex Really
Safe?
Safer sex factsheets
I've sent
my buck in. I hope you do too
Related issues: Talking With
Kids About Tough Issues, Abortion,
AIDS, Bacterial
Vaginosis, Blue Balls, Celibacy,
Chancroid, Chlamydia,
Condoms, Contraception,
Contraception
Effectiveness, Crabs, Genital
Herpes, Genital Warts, Gonorrhea,
Hepatitis A,
B, C,
D, E,
Impotency, Men
& Abortion, Nongonococcal
Urethritis, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease,
Reproduction, Safer
Sex, STDS, Syphilis,
Trichomoniasis, Yeast
Infection
Books: Communications,
Conflict
Resolution, Impotency,
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Sexuality
Slide Guide: Guide
to STDs
Resources
There are many sexually transmissible diseases. All of these are caused by microorganisms which travel from one person to another during particular sexual activities. On this web site we deal with the major infections related to sexual activity and suggest effective ways to reduce your risk for those diseases.
Safer sex goes not have to mean eliminating sexual passion and intimacy from your life. Safer sex means reducing the chance of becoming infected. For individuals who decide to engage in sexual intercourse, reducing the risk of infection means using latex barriers every time you have intercourse, anal sex, fellatio or cunnilingus.
If you do not have anal, oral or vaginal intercourse, and if you never share needles, you have almost no risk of infection. You can greatly reduce your chance of acquiring infection through sexual intercourse by knowing and practicing safer sex. Saliva, sweat, tears and urine do not transmit HIV, but semen, blood and vaginal/cervical secretions may. Sexual activities that include no direct contact with your partner's semen, blood, or vaginal/cervical secretions are safe. Activities that do involve direct contact are risky. Precautions that reduce the chance of direct contact with those fluids will make sex safer:
Talking: can make every other sexual activity safer. Talking helps you get to know your partner better, contributes to sexual please, and provides an opportunity to negotiate safer sexual practices. However, talking alone will not protect you from infection.
Fantasy: The brain creates images and finds words to arouse, delight and satisfy. Imagination and creativity add richness to sexual experience.
Lubricants are important because they reduce the chance that condoms will break during vaginal or anal intercourse. Remember: you can never use too much lubricant and always use water-based lubricants, like KY Jelly. Some lubricants (including contraceptive gels and form) contain nonoxynol-9, a spermicidal that provides additional protection against HIV. Oil-based lubricants may cause the latex in condoms to weaker and tear, so avoid any oil- or petroleum-based lubricant, lotion, or cream (such as Vaseline, hand and body moisturizers, booking oils, or shortening).
Alcohol and other recreational drugs do not cause HIV infection or other sexually transmissible diseases. However, alcohol and drugs are often major factors wen people have unsafe sex. Safer sex is smart, health, sober sex. Safer sex takes some planning, thinking, and negotiating. Alcohol and drugs can impair your judgment, short-circuit your thinking, and limit your ability to communicate effectively. Alcohol and drugs may also make you clumsy and careless in using condoms and lubricants.
Alcohol and some other recreational drugs (including cocaine, marijuana, and "designer drugs") may damage the immune system itself - making you more susceptible to infectious diseases in general.
It's important to keep alcohol and drugs out of sexual
experiences. Learning skills to do this is a key part of preparing
for safer sex. If alcohol or drugs frequently seem to be a part of
your sexual life, seek counseling so you can find ways to change this
pattern. And if alcohol or drug have become problems for you,
counseling can direct you to help.
Factsheet
150 :
Stopping the spread of HIV. How HIV infection is transmitted and how
you can protect yourself and others from HIV infection.
Factsheet
151 :
Safer sex guidelines. How to reduce the risk of HIV infection during
sexual activity.
Factsheet
152 :
How risky is it? A discussion of the risk of transmitting HIV through
various types of sexual activity. Factors that increase the risk of
transmission.
Factsheet
153 :
Condoms. Discussion of the use of condoms for HIV prevention,
including the female condom and the spermicide nonoxynol-9. Condom
myths and realities.
Factsheet 154
:
Drug use and HIV. Drug use and transmission of HIV through unsafe sex
and shared equipment. Drug interactions and needle exchange.
Factsheet
156 v: Post-exposure prophylaxis. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
is treatment after exposure to HIV. It is intended to prevent HIV
infection. PEP is available for workplace exposure to HIV and is
being studied for nonoccupational exposures.
Source: www.gay.com/health/sexuality/splash.html?sernum=2914
Is Signing an Abstinence Pledge a Guarantee
of no STDs
1. Too often individuals who sign the pledge have the best intentions so they don't learn any more about safe sex.
2. Many of these people break the pledge in the heat of the moment and are unknowledgable or unprepared to protect themselves and acquire an STD in many of these circumstances.
We support those who choose to sign a pledge of abstinence. We
don't support programs, however, that want to keep them in the dark
about sex, safe sex, and sexually transmitted diseases. The odds just
aren't that good. 
Don't Own More than 6 Condoms in Texas -
and it Gets Worse
And, Texas isn't the only state to carry this kind of law on its books. Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana and Georgia also prohibit the sale of devices primarily used to stimulate the genitals. Kansas and Louisiana, like Texas, go so far as to specifically ban the sale of dildos and artificial vaginas. Other states, like Indiana, prohibit the sale of obscene devices. But their laws are vague, not specifying devices used for sexual purposes, which allows each community's standards to define what exactly is considered obscene.
Recent cases that challenged the constitutionality of these laws
in Louisiana and Alabama could offer some hope. The Louisiana State
Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional in 2000 (citing
the statue's lack of exemptions), but the law remains on the books,
relatively untouched. And, in 2002, a Federal District Court in
Alabama ruled that the state's ban was unconstitutional because it
violated "users' fundamental right to employ sexual devices within
their private, adult, consensual, sexual relationships."
Source: Bust magazine, Summer,
04
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