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Loading ...Tips on safer sex for lesbians and bisexual women
STDS: Beware!
Because much of lesbian sexual activity involves oral sex, it’s important to know that you can transmit the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and herpes orally.
If you have Chlamydia pneumonia in your mouth, there’s also a chance of passing Chlamydia. But unless you have an open sore in your mouth, you’re not going to transmit things like hepatitis B or HIV; they are usually passed through blood or semen.
Lesbians should also be aware of Bacterial Vaginosis/BV or Gardnerella, an overgrowth of vaginal bacteria that can cause a smelly discharge.
But BV is “not technically considered a sexually transmitted disease because it has to do with your natural balance of bacteria within the vaginia, and that can be caused by many things—tampons, douching, things that aren’t sexual,” Dispenza says. “They’ve found that women have the same sort of strain of vaginosis, so they’re thinking they are using sexual practices—that there’s a sexual aspect to it.”
Then there’s Trichomonas Vaginalis (TV), a parasite that can be contracted through sharing wet towels, underwear or sex toys. It produces a frothy, itchy vaginal discharge, and may cause pain during urination; you can treat it using antibiotics.
Risky behaviors
Risky behaviors include sex without the presence of a barrier—such as a dental dam (a sheet of latex placed over the vagina) or a condom—during vaginal-vaginal contact, digital-vaginal and digital-anal contact, oral sex, sharing of sex toys and razors, or sadomasochistic activities that draw blood.
If you’re using sex toys, make sure you cover them with condoms. When sharing the toys—a potential high-risk behavior—never reuse the same condom on both persons. Be aware of any cuts on your fingers or in your mouth; transmission could occur.
Something else that lesbians should be doing is getting regular pap smears—and the Gardasil vaccination, which helps guard against HPV. (Alhough the drug itself is controversial, information from MERCK, the pharmaceutical company that produces it, states that it “is the only vaccine that can help guard you against 4 types of HPV, the virus that can cause cervical cancer and other diseases.” You must be 26-years-old or younger to get the vaccination.
Next page: Finding a gynecologist, doctor or queer-friendly health center
This article is really funny.
“How many lesbians really only sleep with women?”
How about all of them? Lesbians don’t have husbands or sleep with men. That’s for the people who are bisexual. This article is mindless and clearly written by a breeder.
Alas for Mestruator, identity does not necessarily equal behaviour.
Studies of over a thousand women in both the UK and Australia show significant proportions of lesbian-identified women have been sexual with men in the past year. (Over their lifetimes, it’s over 90%.)
Amusingly, the Australian study compared the women to straight women and found that even the women who had only had sex with other women in the past year still had a higher average number of lifetime male partners and were twice as likely to report having had over fifty.
This article is horrendously written and factually incorrect. Two cases in point regarding medical facts:
1) “But in order to get a pap smear or vaccinations of any kind, you’ve got to visit the gynecologist.” Wrong. Any family practice doctor does Paps and offers Gardasil. Many internists also do Paps regularly.
2) Chlamydia pneumioniae causes a lingering cough (walking pneumonia), not genital infections. Chlamydia trachomatis is the offending bacteria in sexually transmitted oral or genital chlaymdia. Oral chlamydia is almost always asymptomatic while genital chlamydia can be symptomatic or asymptomatic.
Alicia Eler, be responsible for what you publish and fact-check your future health articles with medical professionals prior to publication.
“Menstruator Said: This article is really funny.
“How many lesbians really only sleep with women?”
How about all of them? Lesbians don’t have husbands or sleep with men. That’s for the people who are bisexual. This article is mindless and clearly written by a breeder.”
Dear Menstruator:
how about before they admit or understand they are lesbian? my wife has had sex with plenty of men, while i never got past kissing one. just like gay men may or may not have slept with women before or even after they came out.
What a disappointing article. I learned very little about the actual risks of sexual activities, but I did read that us bisexual women contaminate the lesbian community with our nasty breeder diseases.
It’s true. I stay the fuck away from bisexual women because I refuse to put myself in a situation where I might possibly pick up a “gift” from one of her male partners.
I think it is horrible that people are saying anything rude about bisexuals. Have we learned nothing through our own experiences with discrimination?
FYI I am a lesbian. But I love my bisexual sisters and brothers. Sorry Alice if you felt bad after visiting this page.
A bisexual and a lesbian have nothing in common. There is no commonality in the struggle. It’s ridiculous that I should have to stand up for a bisexual when I want no part of their disgusting behavior.
Of course a man is going to try to tell me that a lesbian does sleep with men. It’s too funny.
A lesbian means… read closely… means… Wait for it…
No penis in the vagina.
Does that hurt your little guy’s feelings? too bad.
Not all women want men, even some breeder women don’t even like your penis.
I know a few lesbians who have had or do at times have sex with men. But most I know have not or do not and never will. What I am most upset with is the hatered inside the LGBT community towards each other. So many lesbians hating bisexuals, so many gay men hating bisexuals. Then we have the lesbians, gays and bisexuals teaming up on transexuals. The LGBT community does not sound like much of a community.
The article was lame. Lesbian sex, gay sex, and straight sex are different. Bisexuals can and will sleep with anyone.
I would not want to be in a reltionship with someone I could not satisfy and worry that they are getting some on the side. A Real Lesbian does Not have sex with men after they come out.
I can’t believe the venom that people within the LGBTQ community have towards eachother. Its all about equality, that people have the right to be themselves and to love the person that they fall for irrespective of gender, race, disability, age or any other irrelevant factor like whether they want to wear makeup or not. Of course lesbians and bisexual people have something in common, they are people. They are sexual minorities. Why would we not want to fight discrimination in all its biggotted forms together, homophobia, biphobia, rasism, sexism. Why would we not want solidarity where we could find it? The truth of the matter is that anyone that discriminates against another person on the basis of their sexual orientation is a biggot. Whether that person is lesbian identified discriminating against a bisexual woman or a straight person discriminating against anyone that engages in homosexual contact. We need to challenge biggotry wherever we find it and we should start in the LGBTQ community itself.
It is highly irresponsible to promote the use of Merck’s vaccination. Neither the human toll or scientific proof of effectiveness is known, and until then it’s just another pharmaceutical experiment using fearful women as guinea pigs.
There is some good information in this article, but also a significant error. The LGBT Community Services Center in NYC is not a medical clinic. Our local LGBTQ medical clinic (and my gynecologist’s home base) is the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, located on West 18th Street in Chelsea.