Read Online How to Be a Great Lover by Lou Paget - Free Book Online
Authors: Lou Paget
Tags: Self-Help, Sexual Instruction
Ads: Link
process.
However, there are several problems with thinking that safe sex is only necessary for protection against AIDS. First, since the media and the population at large tend to associate AIDS with homosexuality and intravenous drug use, and most of us do not fall into either category, we tend to distance ourselves from the very real risk of contracting HIV or AIDS. The fact is, the fastest growing risk groups for contracting HIV in the U.S. are straight women and their children. Furthermore, we tend to restrict our awareness of safe sex to the threat of AIDS when there are several very potent and dangerous sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) spreading rampantly, some of which are equally as life-threatening. I think we can all agree: a person who dies of cervical cancer or hepatitis isn't any less dead than a person who dies from AIDS-related complications.
We have too much information easily available to be irresponsible about sex. Anyone unwilling to ensure his or
her safety before entering a sexual relationship has no business being in one. There is nothing unkind, implied or otherwise, about insisting on safe sex until you know beyond a doubt that each of you is healthy Quite the contrary, it should be considered a display of honor. If you don't honor your health and well being, why would he? By the same token, if he's not willing to honor his health and well being, why would you?
Secrets from Lou's Archive
Many women develop bladder or vaginal infections when they become sexually active with a new partner. This is not at all surprising: you are introducing into the vagina new organisms from your partner's condom, semen, and skin and your body needs time to adjust.
I know a woman, Elena, who, when she asked her potential lover if he had been tested, assured her that he had and that the test result was negative. Yet six months into their relationship, on the weekend they were moving in together, Elena was hospitalized with severe pulmonary distress and quickly diagnosed with HIV infection. In spite of what her boyfriend had told her, she learned that he had been positive for over two years and had infected both his ex-wife and a former girlfriend, in addition to Elena.
You can't be too cautious.
Finally, after all this time, and all the different ways to prevent them, unwanted pregnancies are still on the rise in this country. What this tells us is that as we become more sexual, we're also becoming less responsible, and there is simply no excuse for this neglect. Regardless of the fact that we can and should enjoy sex for other reasons besides procreation, anything serving such an important function should command the utmost respect from all of us. Mother Nature could have just as easily had us become pregnant by eating a certain kind of fruit or taking a certain type of pill. But she chose the intimacy of sexual relations as the way to propagate the species, and that's something we should never take for granted.
The Facts About STDs
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can be contracted by anyone having unprotected sex. As a thirty-four-year-old woman said, "Hey, even though I've only been with low mileage guys, there's still a risk." You are not immune by virtue of your age, ethnicity, education, profession, or socioeconomic status. In fact, one in every fifteen Americans will contract a sexually transmitted disease this year and one in four Americans already has one. What further complicates matters is the fact that it is often difficult to tell who has an STD; many people who are infected look and feel fine and can be blissfully unaware they are infected. For women especially, many STDs have no obvious symptoms until there is already irreparable damage (this is true of Chlamydia, which I discuss below). Quite often women are not given the tragic news until they want to start a family and learn that an asymptomatic STD has robbed them of that right, unless they resort to assisted reproductive technologies, such as in
However, there are several problems with thinking that safe sex is only necessary for protection against AIDS. First, since the media and the population at large tend to associate AIDS with homosexuality and intravenous drug use, and most of us do not fall into either category, we tend to distance ourselves from the very real risk of contracting HIV or AIDS. The fact is, the fastest growing risk groups for contracting HIV in the U.S. are straight women and their children. Furthermore, we tend to restrict our awareness of safe sex to the threat of AIDS when there are several very potent and dangerous sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) spreading rampantly, some of which are equally as life-threatening. I think we can all agree: a person who dies of cervical cancer or hepatitis isn't any less dead than a person who dies from AIDS-related complications.
We have too much information easily available to be irresponsible about sex. Anyone unwilling to ensure his or
her safety before entering a sexual relationship has no business being in one. There is nothing unkind, implied or otherwise, about insisting on safe sex until you know beyond a doubt that each of you is healthy Quite the contrary, it should be considered a display of honor. If you don't honor your health and well being, why would he? By the same token, if he's not willing to honor his health and well being, why would you?
Secrets from Lou's Archive
Many women develop bladder or vaginal infections when they become sexually active with a new partner. This is not at all surprising: you are introducing into the vagina new organisms from your partner's condom, semen, and skin and your body needs time to adjust.
I know a woman, Elena, who, when she asked her potential lover if he had been tested, assured her that he had and that the test result was negative. Yet six months into their relationship, on the weekend they were moving in together, Elena was hospitalized with severe pulmonary distress and quickly diagnosed with HIV infection. In spite of what her boyfriend had told her, she learned that he had been positive for over two years and had infected both his ex-wife and a former girlfriend, in addition to Elena.
You can't be too cautious.
Finally, after all this time, and all the different ways to prevent them, unwanted pregnancies are still on the rise in this country. What this tells us is that as we become more sexual, we're also becoming less responsible, and there is simply no excuse for this neglect. Regardless of the fact that we can and should enjoy sex for other reasons besides procreation, anything serving such an important function should command the utmost respect from all of us. Mother Nature could have just as easily had us become pregnant by eating a certain kind of fruit or taking a certain type of pill. But she chose the intimacy of sexual relations as the way to propagate the species, and that's something we should never take for granted.
The Facts About STDs
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can be contracted by anyone having unprotected sex. As a thirty-four-year-old woman said, "Hey, even though I've only been with low mileage guys, there's still a risk." You are not immune by virtue of your age, ethnicity, education, profession, or socioeconomic status. In fact, one in every fifteen Americans will contract a sexually transmitted disease this year and one in four Americans already has one. What further complicates matters is the fact that it is often difficult to tell who has an STD; many people who are infected look and feel fine and can be blissfully unaware they are infected. For women especially, many STDs have no obvious symptoms until there is already irreparable damage (this is true of Chlamydia, which I discuss below). Quite often women are not given the tragic news until they want to start a family and learn that an asymptomatic STD has robbed them of that right, unless they resort to assisted reproductive technologies, such as in
Similar Books
