Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Tips on safer sex for lesbians and bisexual women
Finding a gynecologist
But in order to get a pap smear or vaccinations of any kind, you’ve got to visit the gynecologist. And because lesbians have different health issues than their heterosexual counterparts, it’s necessary to disclose sexuality-related information. But many lesbians don’t feel comfortable doing so.
The U.S. 10-year public health plan, released in 2000, agreed, saying that “differences in health status for non-heterosexual women result from negative attitudes and experiences within society and the healthcare system, which in turn influence patterns of health-seeking behavior, health-risk factors and specific health issues.” It specifically recognized sexual orientation as a social determinant of health.
Aside from fear of disclosure, however, many lesbians are also deterred by the high cost of healthcare—and the limited amount of partner benefits available. Staying healthy isn’t as easy as it should be.
“A two-woman household, they just don’t have the income [often, for good healthcare]— and there’s no partner recognition,” Dispenza says. “Households with men usually have a higher income. Two lesbians are at a disadvantage because they’re often being paid less and they’re not able to share healthcare if one of them has it, so that can hinder their ability to get healthcare.”
But even if you don’t have health insurance, there are free, low-cost and sliding scale testing centers. Look for LGBTQ health centers in your city. In New York City, visit the The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center . San Francisco offers the SF LGBT Community Center , and in Chicago you’ll find the Howard Brown Health Center.
If you’re located outside of a major metropolitan center in, say, Iowa, know that Planned Parenthood is focused on improving their LGBT healthcare options. Use the Planned Parenthood website to find a health center near you.
Another example of rural-focused healthcare exists in upstate New York: In 2006, The Bridge, a rural-focused community center, opened their doors to all LGBT communities and interested citizens.
If you’re looking for an LGBTQ-friendly doctor, check out the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association online.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
FYI I am a lesbian. But I love my bisexual sisters and brothers. Sorry Alice if you felt bad after visiting this page.
I think it is horrible that people are saying anything rude about bisexuals. Have we learned nothing through our own experiences with discrimination?
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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 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.