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I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m watching any sort of romantic comedy I am quite disappointed in their sex scenes. Not because the hook-up isn’t romantic enough, or because the actors don’t have chemistry – but because there is no conversation between the main characters about sexual health.
A few weeks ago, while watching “About Last Night” for the first time, I was appalled. I asked my roommate if I was the only one concerned that Danny and Debbie were hooking up and hadn’t discussed their past sexual history. This is something that the entertainment industry doesn’t show, which models behavior for all media consumers. If we do not show safe sex in conversations between partners, the likelihood of people understanding the importance of such conversations is lower.
One way we can see this is in the soaring STD rates in metropolitan areas, which have nationally been on a rise since 2015. According to the 2016 data from the Center for Disease Control regarding STD’s:
– Gonorrhea saw an 18.5% increase from 2015 with a total of 468 thousand cases
– Primary and Secondary Syphilis saw a 17.6% increase since 2015
– Congenital Syphilis saw a 27.6% increase in cases since 2015
– Chlamydia saw a 4.7% increase from 2015 with a total of 1.59 million cases Courtesy of Giphy
With these scary numbers, it is probably a good idea to ask your current partner about their sexual history.
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An even better option is for both of you to get tested for STDs and share the results before your first hookup! It’s always a good idea to use a condom, so make sure that you also have your own condoms so no guy can tell you he doesn’t have any. Your protection comes first!
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