Last Updated on February 18, 2021 by Jenelle Marie Pierce, Executive Director It’s always so refreshing to read about supportive friends and family members – people who don’t judge someone who has contracted HSV2, but instead, embrace them. Bravo to this interviewee’s support network, because they are the one’s getting it right. Many people get diagnosed and then deal with slut-shaming, disparaging remarks from their medical practitioners, or getting ostracized from the important people in their lives. So, knowing that there are people out there who will love you, support you, and uplift you i ..read more

Last Updated on February 18, 2021 by Jenelle Marie Pierce, Executive Director Having experienced how painful it can be to have your personal information circulated in a rumor, I’m thoroughly impressed by this interviewee’s resolve to move forward and remove the toxic people from her life. Whether true or not, details about your health, your body, and your sex life are no one’s business but your own. People who spread rumors under the guise of ‘warning people’ are really just trying to harm the individual in the rumor out of spite, jealousy, insecurity, or a combination of those things. As long ..read more

Last Updated on February 18, 2021 by Jenelle Marie Pierce, Executive Director Thank you, interviewee, for your honesty and candor about disclosing to past partners. It’s so important that we don’t beat ourselves up over the decisions we regret and instead, learn from those experiences. You are not alone in having made that choice, only to regret it later, and those feelings help us to understand other people who are in similar situations. Most people have to learn things the hard way, and living with and talking about a long-term infection, like HSV2, is no exception. Of course, the most ethic ..read more

Last Updated on February 18, 2021 by Jenelle Marie Pierce, Executive Director Were you judgy about people with herpes before you were diagnosed? Yup? Us too. Did you think only certain kinds of people contracted HSV? Yup? Us too. Were you sure that HSV2 wasn’t something you ever had to worry about? Yup? Us too. But we were all so wrong. And that’s ok. This interviewee is not unlike the vast majority of us folks who were just plain ignorant about HSV before getting diagnosed. But that doesn’t make us crappy people. The measure of a person is not in what they first think but in where their mind ..read more

Last Updated on February 18, 2021 by Jenelle Marie Pierce, Executive Director We believe that advocacy can take many forms. Not everyone needs to or should ‘come out’ publicly; that’s not necessary to be an advocate for yourself and/or others. Sometimes, just sharing your story anonymously, like this interviewee has, is all that you can do, and that’s enough. That alone takes an incredible amount of courage. Some folks will decide to tell a few close friends or family members, and others will only ever tell their partners, and that’s ok too. And then there are others who will plaster their sta ..read more

Last Updated on February 18, 2021 by Jenelle Marie Pierce, Executive Director When we think about medical practitioners, it’s easy to forget that they’re just people, like the rest of us. Some of them are well-informed, empathetic, and thorough, while others project their own stigma onto us as they’re handing out a new diagnosis. Some of the not so good ones just lack a comprehensive understanding of STIs/STDs, and others are overworked and overwhelmed by the myriad of questions that come after someone is diagnosed. We understand, it’s virtually impossible to know everything there is to know a ..read more

Earlier this week a few folx asked if I had seen the recent dialogue happening between @gabbiehanna and @trishapaytas wondering if I had reached out to them, if I was going to write about it, etc. For those who are unfamiliar, Gabbie Hanna and Trisha Paytas are YouTubers with HUGE followings across social media. I decided not to reach out to them directly, as they would likely not see or respond to my messages – they will likely not see or respond to this post either, and that’s ok – but after receiving many similar messages from the folx following me, I realized this was an issue I couldn’t i ..read more

This guest post was written by Jessica Winter, one of the founders of Sex Toy Education, a website dedicated to providing professional information about adults toys for all people. Humans are one of the few species on the planet who happily engage in sex for the sheer pleasure of it. While it may seem like luck was on our side when we drew the 24/7 mating season straw, the freedom that comes with having sex whenever we feel like it is accompanied by an annoying little caveat: the dreaded risk of infection. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and infections (STIs) have been plaguing mankind si ..read more

This guest post was written by Dr. Dominic Rowley, who is the Medical Director for LetsGetChecked. Dr. Rowley is a Sexual Health Specialist who is passionate about raising awareness around sexual health.  50% of people will contract a sexually transmitted disease before the age of 25 – this shocking statistic is compounded by the fact that the majority of STDs will not have any symptoms whatsoever.  While it may be easy for me to urge the public to test their sexual health, the reality of sexual health screening for people largely depends on a number of variables, included but not limited to ..read more

And we’re back (again)!!! After the holidays and a long-distance move, the STD Podcast is back up and running!!! Same great content, just a little different scenery – I’m still organizing my office and video motif, but overall, I couldn’t be more pleased, because The STD Project is now in Asheville, NC!!! We’re global, actually, but our office is in the mountains with a scenic and quintessential backdrop to boot. Zero complaints here, and that puts me in a perfect way to continue this advocacy work – everyone wins! To kick off our new series, we’re talking about HSV1 vs HSV2, or the differe ..read more