Safe Sex - Talking to Your Teens About Safe Sex Practices

Safe Sex - Preventing Pregnancy & STD's

STD's - It won't happen to me!

When teens consider having sex for the first time, or when they think about having sex at all, their biggest worry is usually unwanted pregnancy. Birth control is one of the primary concerns for guys and girls alike, and condoms are often considered for this purpose and this purpose alone. But of equal concern to the sexually active teen should be the threat of STDs. Be they serious life threatening STDs like HIV and Hepatitis or less serious but equally devastating infections like Chlamydia or Gonorrhea, the reality of sexual contact and STD contraction is not even on the radar for most teens. Why? With youth making up an ever growing population of HIV/AIDS sufferers and with the most common STDs being contracted for the first time before one reaches the age of 21, shouldn't STD avoidance be on the minds of all teens?

STDs and unwanted pregnancies are not the only thing to worry about from sex. There are other conditions and diseases that get transmitted from sexual contact, such as crabs. One increasingly common disease to worry about is molluscum contagiosum. It is a virus that infects the skin and causes large lesions that can last for two years or more. If you have been diagnosed with molluscum contagiosum in on your genitals or pubic area, there are different treatment options available to you.

The first step in protection is education. Condoms (outer surface barrier methods) are the only effective contraception in STD prevention. Both the male and female condoms are effective but do not offer 100% protection from transmission. In fact, only abstinence can protect you from STDs, and many STDs can be passed in non-sexual ways, either with body-to-body contact or surface-to-body contact.