Scarleteen

Hi!
So I'm bicurious, tomorrow is my first pride parade and I'm hoping to (consensually) get a little frisky ONLY KISSING THOUGH. Can I get sti or std from kissing strangers?

Happy Pride, and hope your first is awesome!

You can potentially pass on or pick up infections from kissing anyone, whether you know them already or not. It's not like someone being a stranger or not makes pathogens work any differently.

Generally, what people are most at risk of with kissing on the mouth is the common cold or flu, seconded by mononucleosis and the oral Herpes virus. Only the latter two tend to get filed under STIs, and other STIs aren't really risks with kissing.

Latter two?

Hi chimichanga,

Heather meant the 'latter two' as in the last two things mentioned on her list, namely, "mononucleosis and the oral Herpes virus" are things which can be categorised as STIs... and can be got by kissing.

Is this something that worries you?

It is your personal choice here. Plenty of people the world over to plenty of kissing, and it's one way some viruses can pass but this isn't a judgement on anyone who takes part. It's just something we choose to be ok with or not.