- You can make love without penetration – kiss, hug, cuddle, lick, stroke, massage, bath together, dance, wrestle, romp, fondle, nibble, rub, shower, play...
- Oral sex is riskier if you or your partner have sores in or around the mouth, or inflamed gums.
- Penetrative sex is riskier if you have any cuts or sores on your genitals.
- Anal intercourse is especially risky for both partners, because the skin in the rectum is delicate and breaks easily.
- For penetrative sex, use condoms with a BSI Kitemark and CE mark.
If an STI is not treated Color
It doesn't go away. As long as you have an STI, you can pass it on to somebody else – and perhaps cause permanent damage to your health, or your partner’s health.
In the long-term, men can experience pain and swelling in the testicles and penis, and in the joints and eyes. You may become less fertile.
Women are even more likely to suffer long-term damage, including pelvic pain and damage to the Fallopian tubes. This can cause difficulties with pregnancy. It may even mean you cannot have a baby.
Many people believe they'll never come into contact with a sexually transmitted infection. Not because they always use condoms, but because infections only happen to ‘other’ people. This isn't true.
It's not who you are that matters. It's what you do. Someone who has many partners and always uses condoms is probably at less risk than someone who has a series of ‘steady’ relationships and doesn't use condoms.
If you are concerned about pregnancy, it's important to get advice and have a pregnancy test as soon as possible. If a pregnant woman has an untreated STI, this may be passed on to her baby either in the womb or during birth.
Most STIs can be treated during pregnancy without harming mother or baby.
You can have a free pregnancy test done at:
- most family planning clinics
- some doctors
- some sexual health/GUM clinics