STD Awareness: 10 Myths About Sexually Transmitted Diseases

The Internet is brimming with contradictory claims about sexual health, and you don’t know what to believe. Your friends give you advice, but you’re not sure if it sounds right. To make things worse, you might not have had evidence-based, medically accurate sex education in your school. In this edition of our STD Awareness series, we’ll take on a few myths about sexually transmitted diseases to help you sort fact from fiction.

1 MYTH: You can tell if someone has an STD by looking at them.
You might expect that if someone has an STD, their genitals would have blisters, warts, or noticeable discharge. But your partner looks fine, so you might think there’s no need to ask when his or her last STD test was.

However, while many people with STDs do have visible symptoms, they’re the exception rather than the rule. For example, three out of four women and half of men with chlamydia have no symptoms. Herpes is often spread when there are no symptoms present. Someone can be infected with HIV — and capable of transmitting it to others — and go years without showing any signs. A quick visual inspection can’t tell you very much about someone’s STD status.

2 MYTH: You can’t get an STD from oral sex.
While it is generally true that oral sex presents less of a risk for contracting STDs, this risk is not trivial. Most STDs can be passed along by oral sex, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis B, herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), and HIV. You can reduce your risk by using barrier methods like condoms and dental dams consistently and correctly.

3 MYTH: Condoms can’t prevent the spread of HIV.
Many proponents of abstinence-only education state that condoms don’t protect against HIV, claiming that latex condoms have holes that are large enough for viruses to pass through. This claim isn’t backed by evidence. An intact latex condom dramatically reduces your risk of being exposed to sexually transmitted viruses such as HIV. (It is true that a lambskin condom does not provide adequate protection against HIV.) Continue reading

Allergic to Latex? You Can Still Have Safer Sex

Condoms offer fantastic protection against STDs and reduce pregnancy risk. Most are made from latex, to which some people are allergic.

Latex condoms are a well-rounded form of birth control: Not only are they great for preventing pregnancy, but they reduce the risk of passing on or receiving a sexually transmitted disease (STD). When used consistently and correctly, they offer fantastic protection. Although condoms have been around for centuries, their modern construction from latex is a vast improvement over the silk and viscera of yore. A product of the industrial age, they are manufactured by dipping a porcelain mold into natural rubber latex, a material that originates from a tree.


Latex is tops, but other options include polyisoprene and polyurethane. Beware: Lambskin isn’t effective STD protection.

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Because of latex’s many advantages, the majority of condoms are manufactured from this material. However, up to 6 percent of the population is allergic to latex. There is a range of symptoms associated with latex allergies. Most people with latex allergies experience only a localized reaction on the vulva or penis (contact dermatitis); systemic reactions (like asthma or anaphylaxis) are rare. Allergy tests can be performed on people who suspect they might be sensitive to latex.

Luckily, even if you have a latex allergy you can still find condoms to facilitate your safer-sex experiences, including condoms made out of polyurethane and polyisoprene. Not all condoms protect against pregnancy or STDs, so read the label carefully. In the United States, if the packaging doesn’t explicitly state that the condoms are made to prevent disease, they haven’t been approved by the FDA for that purpose. Continue reading