Trusting Sexual Partners Is a Barrier to STD Prevention
Many people feel that they are at a low risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) because they trust their current sexual partners, according to a new survey reported by Reuters (reuters.com 6/25).
Researchers at the University of British Columbia surveyed 317 men and women at an STI clinic. All were visiting the clinic for the first time and had not yet been diagnosed with any STIs.
Researchers found that people often mistook subjective qualities as indicators that their partners would put them at low risk. For example, more than 70 percent of patients said they would probably consider a partner “safe” if he or she were generally trustworthy.
“Developing interventions that target assumptions of safety and dispel incorrect beliefs about the selection of safe partners is needed to promote safer sexual behavior,” the researchers conclude.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
