Hey, you! Are you having sex? Great! Sex is fun and has lots of proven health benefits! But when was the last time you got tested for STIs? Chances are, not as recently as necessary.
Did you know that one in two sexually active people will get an STI before the age of 25? Yeah, you read that right. That’s half of the sexually active people on your campus.
Don’t be scared, though. STIs are often curable and always treatable. There is no STI that means you can’t continue to have safe sex. Your vagina doesn’t rot from the inside out or whatever you may have heard. That said, STIs aren’t something anyone wants. No one asks for an STI for Chanukah.
So what exactly is an STI? First of all, yes, it’s the same thing as an STD. But STI is the preferred term because “infection” sounds a lot nicer than “disease” and is a more accurate representation of what it is. Anyway, an STI (sexually transmitted infection) is a type of infection passed from one person to another through oral, anal, or vaginal sexual intercourse and a select few can even be passed from skin-to-skin contact. College-age people account for nearly half of new STI cases every year. That’s 23,397 college-age people diagnosed with an STI each day! One in four college students has an STI with herpes, chlamydia, and HPV being the most common. And @vagina-owners, you’re even more likely to get an STI due just to anatomy. Sorry!
But how do you even know if you have an STI? Get tested every three to six months! 80% of STIs are asymptomatic although nearly half of college students believe you can tell if you have an STI just by looking at your genitals. (Spoiler alert: You can’t!) 60% of college students with HIV don’t even know they have it. The only way to know if you have an STI is to get tested. The good news is that STI testing is easy, convenient, and affordable. For most STIs, all you do is pee in a cup. That’s it! You pee all the time! Very simple stuff here, folks. Some STIs do require a blood draw, but would you rather be poked by a needle or experience early-onset dementia as a result of untreated syphilis? Planned Parenthood offers STI testing based on your income (not your parents’!), so if you make no money, you pay no money. College campuses are also legally required to offer some form of STI testing so check with your health center.
The best news is that STIs are super preventable. You just need a condom. That’s it. That’s all. Your birth control pill/IUD/Depo Shot/NuvaRing/etc. will NOT protect against STIs. Obviously, abstinence is the only 100% effective way to prevent STIs, blah blah blah, but latex condoms are a close second. Consistent and correct condom usage decreases the risk for HIV by 85% and up to 100% for gonorrhea.
I know what you’re thinking: “Hannah, if STI prevention is so easy, why do so many people still have STIs?” And the answer is that y’all aren’t using condoms. I don’t know why. It doesn’t make any sense to me. But that’s the reason. Only 26% of college students always use a condom! 26%, folks. Come on. Even worse, 60% of female college students who never use condoms believe they have no risk for STIs. Which is, frankly, pretty scary. Everyone who is having sex, regardless of who you’re having sex with, is at risk for STIs. That includes you, women having sex with women. STIs can be passed through oral sex on the vulva and through uncleaned sex toys. Use a dental dam and put a condom on that dildo, I’m begging you.
Silver lining: condoms are super cheap, super accessible, and super easy to use. Unfortunately, tons of college students don’t even know how to use a condom. A study done by the Guttmacher Institute examined the most common mistakes made when using a condom and found that 61% of men didn’t check the expiration date prior to condom usage (yeah, condoms expire!), 43% put the condom on after beginning sexual intercourse (pre-cum can still contain STIs – sorry!), and 40% did not leave room at the tip of the condom for the ejaculate (this leads to condom breakage and leakage! Eek!). Honestly, you can probably blame this on poor sex education in high school, but it’s time to #Educate Yo’Self. Make sure you and whoever you’re having sex with know how to put on a condom. And if you don’t, it could be a fun, sexy learning experience.
In conclusion, college students are having sex (great!) but not using condoms (bad!) and, as a result, they’re getting STIs. Please, for my sake but mostly for your own sake and the sake of people you’re having sex with, get tested for STIs every 3-6 months and practice safe sex. I am literally begging you.