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Oral Sex
Regardless of common beliefs,
unprotected oral sex is a risky behavior. You can contract herpes,
genital warts, or other STDs. If you do, their symptoms may show
up on your face.
The following are two forms of
Herpes:
- Herpes simplex-1 (HSV-1)
- Herpes simplex-2 (HSV-2)
It was previously believed that herpes simplex-1 was
causing only 30% of genital herpes cases and was primarily a herpes
found around the mouth area, while herpes simplex-2 was the main
culprit for genital herpes. This gave a false sense of security
that herpes simplex-1was less likely to transfer to the genitals.
However, a recent study of Univ. of Wisconsin Madison college students
over a decade found that herpes simplex-1 was
in fact the cause of 78% of all genital herpes cases. This
means cold sores from the mouth commonly cause genital herpes through
unprotected oral sex. They also found that HSV-1 was more common
in ages 16 to 21 than older ages, which puts teens at higher risk.
The most scary thing is that the herpes simplex-1 virus is infective
a couple days before a cold sore appears, so people can be shedding
the virus in their saliva and have no idea that they are infectious.
The reason, simplex-1 has become the main cause of genital herpes
on this particular campus, may quite possibly be because people
tend to use protection during intercourse but not during oral sex.
Remember, any form of herpes is not curable. You may be able to
decrease the frequency of flare ups (when the sores appear) with
medication, but you will never be rid of the disease. For more info
see Herpes.
If someone's mouth contains
blood, as it does after brushing teeth, a blood born STD such as
AIDS could technically be transferred to the person on which they
are performing oral sex. If a person has a cut on their lip (tiny
cracks are common on chapped lips) or an open sore inside their
mouth (from eating chips for example), they could technically contract
a blood born STD from the person on which they're performing
oral sex.
There are ways to perform oral
sex using protection such as a condom, dental damn, sheet of latex,
or saran wrap. These methods are not used often, but if you have
oral sex, they are recommended.
Some people may think of oral
sex as less intimate or risky than sexual intercourse. The truth
is, it carries many risks. It can also be much more intimate than
sexual intercourse. Oral sex is performed to pleasure the partner
and thus can be a selfless expression of love and devotion. Oral
sex can also be cheap and brutal when performed on a person that
doesn't respect the person giving it. A rough blow job could
actually gag a woman to the point of vomiting. Some women unfortunately
give blow jobs to avoid having sexual intercourse. This should not
be necessary. Women should only do what they truly want to do, and
only what is safe for their bodies.
Know your partner well. People
often lie about their sexual history. There's really no way to know
for sure how many people your partner has slept with. Abstinence
like always, is the only way to delete the risk. If you do have
oral sex, we highly recommend using protection. If you don't, you
could aquire a non-curable STD.
References:
"Cold sore virus is cause of new genital
herpes" Reported at National STD Prevention Conference in San
diego, by UW-Madison Univ. Health Services
epidemiologist, Craig Roberts, and Wisonsin state Laboratory of
Hygiene epidemiologist John Pfister, 3/4/02
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