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Wondering about safe sex?

Questions and discussion about your sexual lives, choices, activities, ideas and experiences.
alibear5207
newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:27 am
Age: 27
Awesomeness Quotient: My love for everyone!
Primary language: English
Pronouns: she/her
Sexual identity: Panromantic Gray-Asexual
Location: California

Wondering about safe sex?

Unread post by alibear5207 »

I'm just posting for the first time, but I've been a long-time reader of Scarleteen. I'm 19, and I've been feeling for about a year now that I'm ready to have my first sexual experience. I've been in a few relationships before, but sex was just never a part of it. I've known since I was about 11 that I'm not straight, though I've floundered between a few labels over the years, ending up with Panromantic Gray-Asexual. I also think I might be nonbinary, but I'm still figuring that part out for myself.
So I have a friend who I met online who lives an hour away. We've met up in person a few times now, and we've been talking daily for about 6 months. We really understand each other, and we "speak each other's language", you might say. Recently, we were talking, and I confided in him that I've been wanting to lose my virginity (we both recognize that virginity is a social construct and all that) but I have no avenue to do so through. Dating apps and sites didn't go anywhere, and I don't know how much I trust a near-stranger to be clean and understanding. Long story short, the idea of my friend and I having sex came up - just a casual thing. We'll be hanging out next weekend and we'll probably do it then, and we both made it clear that we can back out at any time.
He's a lot more experienced than me, and he's also trans (pre-op and taking hormones) which isn't a problem. What I am worried about is how to make sure we're safe from STIs and all that. He got herpes from a hook-up about a month ago, but his doctor gave him an anti-viral medicine and claimed it reduces the chance of transmitting it down to less than 1% with regular use. Should we still use stuff like dental dams? Where would I even get those? I'm so lost, and I don't want to assume anything about how he feels as a transman, like if receiving oral sex with a dental dam in place might make him feel dysphoric or not. I'm planning on discussing details like that with him before the time comes, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any ideas. Any help is appreciated, and thank you in advance! :D
Sam W
previous staff/volunteer
Posts: 10320
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:06 am
Age: 33
Awesomeness Quotient: I raise carnivorous plants
Primary language: english
Pronouns: she/her
Sexual identity: queer
Location: Coast

Re: Wondering about safe sex?

Unread post by Sam W »

Hi alibear,

Glad to hear you and he are really communicating about things like your STI status and your needs, that's a great precedent to set.

As for staying safe, you'll absolutely want to use a dental dam or other safer sex materials if you're concerned about STI transmission. You can read about those here: All the Barriers! All the Time!

Since he has herpes, you'll also want to give this article a read so that you two can minimize the risks of sex as much as possible: HPV & Herpes: Why Safer Sex Isn't Always Safe Enough
And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow/with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go/turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain/and like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
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