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Loading ...Tips on safer sex for lesbians and bisexual women
Ask anyone in the LGBTQ community about safe sex, STD prevention and risks of HIV/AIDS, and you’ll notice that the conversation usually shifts to gay male-to-male sex.
There are no hard numbers. But experts say it may be more common than anecdotal evidence suggests. Because you may not know whether your sexual partner ever has had unprotected sex with a man, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Women who have slept with men “puts them at risk for STDs,” said Jill Dispenza, Director, HIV/STD Hotline and HIV Testing & Prevention at Chicago’s LGBTQ Center on Halsted. “A lot of the issue, too, is that women who have sex with women, when they do have sex with a man, that partner is usually bisexual or even gay, just because of the circles they’re in—so that can put them at greater risk.”
According to a 2003 study assessing the risk of perception of a sample of self-defined lesbians, “lesbians believe that if they are at no or low-risk for contracting HIV, the benefits of engaging in safer sex practices would be minimal.”
But because behavior of lesbian-identified women varies, a perceived low-risk for HIV infection may actually increase the risk, because women don’t take proper precautions. For example, does your sexual partner engage in unprotected sex with male partners, or have a problem with drugs or alcohol, which might lead to fewer sexual precautions (or HIV transmission, if they use intravenous drugs)? You might not know.
With this knowledge in mind, how can lesbians stay safe? And what STDs are we at risk for?
Next page: The STDs lesbians should be careful of
I love sex with girls.
This article has many incorrect facts about lesbians and bisexual women. I also feel that who ever wrote this, did not do their research and just pulled the research out of their ass.
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Many of the comments here with regard to bisexual people are just revolting. We do not sleep with anyone. We’re not attracted to everyone. I’m extremely picky.
And the article itself is full of incorrect information.
For example
“A lot of the issue, too, is that women who have sex with women, when they do have sex with a man, that partner is usually bisexual or even gay, just because of the circles they’re in—so that can put them at greater risk.”
This might conceivably be true of lesbian identified women who have sex with men – except for example those who work as prostitutes and some porn performers. However it is most certainly not true of women who identify as bisexual. And guess what? There are more of us than there are lesbians. A lot more. So most women who have sex with women are not lesbians or even lesbian identified.
“Gold Star” lesbians are a pretty rare breed. Portia certainly isn’t one. Neither is Ellen. Think about it biphobes.