It's been a heck of a year already, and situations around me have gotten me thinking.
A friend of mine (lets use the name Ryan, since its gender neutral) recently revealed that s/he had gotten an STD test back with positive results for genital herpes. This is someone I care for very much, and the revelation shocked me. I was scared and worried for Ryan, and what the implications would be on his/her love/sex life.
I started thinking about what it would be like to be in Ryan's place. What would it be like to have to tell everyone you were interested in that you had a sexually transmitted disease that would never go away? Ryan is scared that any future relationship is now in danger, because who would ever want to risk being infected.
More thinking...
Fear stems from ignorance. Ignorance can be defeated by knowledge. Knowledge can combat fear.
Research...this requires research.
The more research I do, the less scary it is...on a physical level, at least. Ryan tested positive, but has never had an outbreak. Talking to a doctor, an outbreak isn't something anyone could miss. With no physical symptoms, it's not something that someone would suspect they had. The research shows that a high percentage of the population has one or the other type of Herpes virus in their system, and infection rates are fairly low when proper precautions are taken. A large part of the problem seems to be that people who don't know they have the virus end up spreading it.
Really, the social sigma seems much worse than anything else. I'm not saying that the physical aspect is necessarily easy peasy, but it doesn't seem as scary now as it used to. The fear of telling potential partners is almost worse than anything else. The fear, as I said before seems to be largely due to ignorance. Having information to give to potential partners seems like the best way to deal with it.
At some point, I made a connection in my head that the stigma of having herpes is similar to the stigma that exists around headlice. No, they're really not the same, but the stigma associated with lice in the US is worse than in other places. In the states, a child with headlice is sent home from school until treated. Then they come back to school the next day. In England, children are not sent home, but all children with long hair are encouraged to keep hair contained to avoid possible infection, and parents of all children in the class are told when a case of headlice has been found...so everyone can take proper precautions.
Ignorance has told us that lice happens when you have poor cleanliness habits. It turns out, lice hate dirty hair. Infections sometimes happen, and they're something to be treated, not ashamed of.
Likewise, being responsible, informed, and honest about a condition like genital herpes is the best course of action. Take the best precautions possible, know the risks and how to explain them, and give all the information to potential partners so they can make an informed decision.
No, it might not be easy, but it shouldn't be the end of the world.
A friend of mine (lets use the name Ryan, since its gender neutral) recently revealed that s/he had gotten an STD test back with positive results for genital herpes. This is someone I care for very much, and the revelation shocked me. I was scared and worried for Ryan, and what the implications would be on his/her love/sex life.
I started thinking about what it would be like to be in Ryan's place. What would it be like to have to tell everyone you were interested in that you had a sexually transmitted disease that would never go away? Ryan is scared that any future relationship is now in danger, because who would ever want to risk being infected.
More thinking...
Fear stems from ignorance. Ignorance can be defeated by knowledge. Knowledge can combat fear.
Research...this requires research.
The more research I do, the less scary it is...on a physical level, at least. Ryan tested positive, but has never had an outbreak. Talking to a doctor, an outbreak isn't something anyone could miss. With no physical symptoms, it's not something that someone would suspect they had. The research shows that a high percentage of the population has one or the other type of Herpes virus in their system, and infection rates are fairly low when proper precautions are taken. A large part of the problem seems to be that people who don't know they have the virus end up spreading it.
Really, the social sigma seems much worse than anything else. I'm not saying that the physical aspect is necessarily easy peasy, but it doesn't seem as scary now as it used to. The fear of telling potential partners is almost worse than anything else. The fear, as I said before seems to be largely due to ignorance. Having information to give to potential partners seems like the best way to deal with it.
At some point, I made a connection in my head that the stigma of having herpes is similar to the stigma that exists around headlice. No, they're really not the same, but the stigma associated with lice in the US is worse than in other places. In the states, a child with headlice is sent home from school until treated. Then they come back to school the next day. In England, children are not sent home, but all children with long hair are encouraged to keep hair contained to avoid possible infection, and parents of all children in the class are told when a case of headlice has been found...so everyone can take proper precautions.
Ignorance has told us that lice happens when you have poor cleanliness habits. It turns out, lice hate dirty hair. Infections sometimes happen, and they're something to be treated, not ashamed of.
Likewise, being responsible, informed, and honest about a condition like genital herpes is the best course of action. Take the best precautions possible, know the risks and how to explain them, and give all the information to potential partners so they can make an informed decision.
No, it might not be easy, but it shouldn't be the end of the world.
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