I was reading another blog which referenced a post at The Frisky titled Is it Necessary to Always Tell Partners About Your STD Status
Short answer: Yes.
Longer answer. I am a slut, and I can have sex with many people within a short period of time. I dont necessarily ask about STD status before getting sexually involved with an individual. I always use condoms with partners, and I have never been diagnosed with an STI.
If a partner asks me about my STD status, my typical response is “I was tested on X date for X STIs, and have had sex with X number of people since.” If that is too high risk for the other people, then we dont have sex. Easy.
I did have an instance in which a person did not disclose their HSV2 status to me. I waited three months to get tested (because it takes that long to show, usually), but I also didnt have the chance to be slutty in that timeframe. But, I worried about HSV2 and the non disclosure, when I have had plenty of partners with HSV1 and they didnt mention it. Why is one more serious than the other?
I am lucky that I tend to hang out with a crowd that does disclose their HSV1 status, sometimes. But I also dont worry about it. So many people have HSV1 and HPV that I would severely limit my sexual partners if I chose not to sleep with individuals who had it. That does not seem to be a good choice on my part, but it is perfectly acceptable to those that have undergone their own risk analysis.
But part of the destigmatization of STIs is the normalization of disclosure. If people are freely disclosing their HSV1 and HPV status (if known), then having frank conversations about the nature of herpes and HPV may lead to less stigmatization of HSV2 and other STIs. Because stigma leads to people not getting tested for herpes, and to individuals not disclosing their STI status if they are known.
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