Picture this: you’re in bed with someone, and before things progress they ask the classic, “Have you been tested?” And no, you haven’t been, but the only person you’ve been with in years is your ex and he’s only been with one or two people… or maybe three depending on what he meant when he said “hooked up.” Anyways, you’re clean… right? 

It’s important to treat your sexual health with just as much care as you would any other aspect of your health.

Washington University, it’s time for our yearly conversation about practicing safe sex. That’s right, we’re talking about protection to avoid pregnancy and STIs.

St. Louis has long been known as the sexually transmitted disease (STD) and infection (STI) capital of the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent STD Surveillance report, released in September 2017, St. Louis City ranks highest in the nation for the chlamydia infection, which appeared in about one in every 72 St. Louis City residents, and gonorrhea, which had a rate of one in every 133 residents.

St. Louis is regularly recognized as having the highest rate of STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in the country. And in a sexually-charged environment like college, Washington University students are no strangers to STIs either.

I’m sure that most of you would rather be thinking about blow jobs, porn or even anal sex instead of sexually transmitted diseases and infections. But I’m also sure that most of you are unaware that April is STI Awareness Month, thanks to a partnership between MTV, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and our own Student Health Services (SHS).

I grew up knowing all the facts about STDs. Before they became STIs, the most common STDs identified by my high school and middle school counselors were gonorrhea, chlamydia and genital herpes.