**Disclaimer:We are not medical practitioners and this website is not a certified medical website; if you have a medical question, you should consult a medical practitioner, not a website. We hope that this websites brings up questions and thoughts about yourself/others and we hope you have more confidence on who/what to contact when thinking about your own reproductive justice.
What is an STI? A sexually transmitted infection is an infection you can get when having unprotected vaginal, oral, or anal sex or merely from skin to skin contact with someone. Some STIs are life-long because there are not cures for every infection. Others are curable with medicine.
Symptoms? The scary thing about STIs is that often times there are NO signs at all. Many people will be living with an STI and not even know it, then pass it to another person unknowingly. For instance, 1 in 6 people (ages 14-49) have Herpes Simplex 2, BUT most herpes cases do not show ANY symptoms, so that means 16% of us could be walking around having sex with others without even knowing if we have Herpes (which is a lifetime infection). If you ever feel someone off in your genital area, you should always get tested to be safe.
Walgreens, Planned Parenthood, Doctor's office, Bates Health Services, local health clinics
Protection Against CONDOMS (both internal and external) are the only way to protect against STIs. They must be used properly every time you have sex--anally, orally, vaginally. Lifelong STIs
Genital Herpes
Human Papillomavirus (HPV or genital warts)
Hepatitis B
Human Immunodeficiency (HIV, which is the cause of AIDS)
Bacterial STIs - including chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis - usually can be cured by antibiotics but are increasing at epidemic rates
Websites with more information that is credible, honest, necessary to read