Across the border in my home country of Canada, rates of STDs have rapidly been increasing since 2000. Syphilis cases have increased 10 times over, while chlamydia rates have increased 66 percent. Public-health experts are saying that this can partially be attributed to the popularity of online dating.

The problem is that people get to know each other in advance, so by the time they meet there are already increased levels of intimacy. Because of this felt intimacy, people are less likely to have a conversation about safe sex. Add this to the decrease in condom use among female college students, and it’s definitely something we should be talking about.

Public health agency statistics indicate that the more the HIV epidemic appears to become a thing of the past, the less people focus on a message of safe sex. There are, of course, other factors than just online dating, but the response should be the same. Communicate with your partners, practice safe sex, and get tested.

In California, the public health department is encouraging online-dating site owners to allow daters to have a safe-sex option in profiles and link to local HIV-testing venues with the option to send e-cards to past partners when results come in. It’ll be interesting to see if this ever happens.

Leah has her Bachelor of Journalism in sight with just over a month left at Ryerson University in Toronto. When she’s not working on the Ryerson Review of Journalism she’s baking tasty cupcakes and hunting for a job (hopefully that pays). Follow her @Elleandbee. 

[Lead image via badahos/Shutterstock]

But this time, by the luck of the draw, I happened to get a check-up from someone that (gasp!) actually knew what they were talking about. I’m not saying you should listen to this doctor (nurse practitioner, if you want to get technical) instead of your own, but these are a few little known facts I picked up that I thought I would share.

Beware, as these tidbits may scare you away from sex for life (or at least for the night).

1. In order for your birth control to be 99.7% effective, you must take it every day within 30 minutes of the same time.
Apparently, the hormones that make you temporarily infertile only work for 24 straight hours. According to Susan (the nurse practitioner), you should be okay if you miss the time by 1 to 2 hours. If you miss more than that, however, you should use condoms for at least a week.

2. If you don’t take birth control at the same time every day, the effectiveness can be as low as 92%.
For all of you that have taken statistics, that means you have an 8% chance of getting preggers. Let me say that clearer: the chance of you having a small person come out of you in 9 months is 26 times higher if you don’t take your b.c. regularly. Noooo, thank you. (For more important facts about your pill, click here.)

3. Some STDs, especially HIV, have an incubation period of up to 6 months.
That means that even if you are negative for the disease today, you won’t be in the clear until you have another negative test 6 months from now. And that only applies if you haven’t engaged in any high-risk sexual activity. In short, make him wrap it up.

4. You can get HIV easier from oral-anal contact aka “rimming” (the grossest sex slang ever) than from any other form of oral sex.
This one was in a Safe Sex pamphlet that Susan so generously gave me. Not that I’m recommending that everybody run and try this one out, but just use that fact to put things into perspective. Or as a very handy excuse to say no if/when your partner ever puts in such a request.

5. Alcohol and drugs can weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to infection.
Yes kids, that includes STDs and other icky things. I can also testify that being drunk makes having sex, especially enjoyable sex, just that much more difficult to maneuver. What’s more, according to my lovely pamphlet, alcohol and drugs can also impair your judgment and make you do things you may regret in the morning. Who knew?

My first boyfriend was uncircumcised. At the young, inexperienced age of fourteen, I realized this only because one day while chilling on the futon in the den having a post BJ-sesh chat, he informed me that some of the girls he had been with (because as a sixteen-year-old senior, he was far more sexually experienced than my freshman self) were initially freaked out by the au natural state of his Scottish-born ween. Huh, I remember thinking. He’s not circumcised. So THAT’s what that looks like.

It’s not like I was totally ignorant. I had been reading Seventeen and YM since I was nine. I knew all about hymens and G-spots and that you couldn’t get pregnant from a boy shooting his load into the open waters of a hot tub, so I certainly knew that some gents had foreskins and some did not; I just wasn’t really sure what that meant, anatomically.

I didn’t actually fully experience the difference between the two until about ten months later when my boyfriend and I were “on a break” and I hooked up with another boy, birthed in the good old U.S. of A. and fully shorn to prove it. As we sweatily made out on the couch, I jammed my hand in to his shorts, confidently grabbed a hold of his manparts, and…proceeded to give him the rawest handjob in the history of the earth.

For those of you who are lost, allow me to explain. On an uncircumcised boy, one can give some kind of an HJ without any sort of lube at all. Granted, as I have aged I have learned that some lube is certainly preferable to none in any case, but a fluid up and down motion causing some pleasurable sensations is achievable. But on the circumcised penis? Without the pliable sheath of the foreskin acting as a kind of…sleeve or whatever*, all that an unlubed HJ will achieve is some serious chafing and sad faces all around. Aww.

Since these initial awkward adolescent escapades, I have gained a world of experience in both the skinned and not skinned camps; in fact, I’d say of all the boys I’ve been with, about 40% are uncircumcised. Which is why it surprises me that many ladies I meet are not only ignorant to the ways of the shrouded wang but downright disturbed by it. Just last summer, a friend of mine was recounting her hookup from the night before and informed me that the kid was the first uncircumcised experience she had ever had and it was, “Really weird. I don’t think I liked it.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“I just kind of…creeped me out,” was her response.

Maybe I just meet penilely conservative girls, but I hear something to this effect pretty often. While I kicked off my sexual career with a UK wang where approximately 20% of males are circumcised, most ladies in the U.S. are hooking up with dudes from the U.S., where three out of four males are unsheathed. While the practice of circumcising boys has been on the decline in recent years, the pervasive notion in America is still that penises should not resemble the worms from Tremors.

So what of these turtlenecked organs? Are, they, in fact, inferior to naked ones? For years it was touted that being circumcised was more hygienic, made for a lower risk of STD contraction, and allows for greater sensation during sex. However, in 1999, the American Medical Association issued a statement saying that removal of an infant’s foreskin for any reason other than medical issues or ritualistic tradition is not necessary and not advised, and since then, the number of circumcisions performed annually has dropped by about 35%. Recent scientific studies have indicated that keeping the old skinjacket does not have any notable adverse effects on most guys, though there is some debate as to whether or not circumcision can help curb the spread of HIV in high-risk regions. However, here in Western civilization it seems that our notion that skin free is the way to be is merely a social construct.

And as for me? Well, I can’t say I’ve noticed much of a difference either way. Aside from the aforementioned HJ discrepancy, a penis is a penis is a penis as far as I’m concerned. Some are short, some long, some thick, some thin, some sheathed, some not. At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters much what it looks like; what matters is the dude attached to it and how he uses it.

*God, I hope my mother isn’t reading this.

Likey? Don’t worry, there are plenty more faves where this came from.

This year, some of your most-loved (or love-to-hate) celebs are giving up their digital life until their fans donate 1 million dollars by “buying life.” But you don’t have to be a celebrity with 5 million Twitter followers to make a difference.

As you sit in your dorm room (or lecture hall – we know you’re reading this in class!), you might be questioning what you can possibly do to make a difference – after all you are only one person. But, if everyone takes action, then collectively we can make some major strides. Even from that teeny, tiny room you call home.

Print out and put a poster on your door
I’m sure a lot of people walk by your room each day and chances are if there’s something different up on your door, they might take a second to stop and think about what the poster means, and maybe even generate a conversation with you about the topic.

Do your research
Read up on World AIDS Day. The best protection is knowledge. Spread what you know by talking to friends, or the random person who stops by your room after seeing your poster.

Test your knowledge
AVERT has lots of games and quizzes for World AIDS Day. Try one out and pass it along to your friends.

Wear a red ribbon
You can pick one up from your local MAC store. If you pick up a Viva Glam product while you are there, every cent of the selling price will go towards the MAC AIDS Fund.

Practice safe sex
If you’re going to have sex, don’t do it until you’ve had a conversation with your partner about safe sex. If you’re unsure about their sexual history, or they don’t want to talk about it, don’t do it. Once you’ve had a talk about HIV and STDs then make sure you use a always use a condom.

Get tested
If you’re having sex, go get tested. If you don’t know where to go, text your zipcode to “KNOWIT” (566948) to find a testing centre near you.

Get connected
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re connected online. Tweet about it using #WAD2010, post a statistic as your status on Facebook, or post a picture on the Facing AIDS flickr page. Use your connection to spread awareness.

Go to an event
I know this time of year is really busy, but if you have time, check out a World AIDS Day event in your area. Grab your friends and get out there. What else is there to do on a Wednesday night anyway?

Rubbing her eyes the following morning, she was greeted by a lightly snoring Derek at her side. Crap, she thought, Colin is going to be so pissed.

Disheveled, Sarah grabbed her scattered clothes and headed to the bathroom to put herself together before enduring the never pleasant walk of shame.

“Ohmigodd!” she practically shouted. Her neck was as thick as her head and her eyelids so swollen she might as well have just lost in the ring against Mike Tyson. Splashing some cold water on her face, Sarah ignored the absolute atrocity that was her appearance and briskly walked back to her house.

Loading up on DayQuill, NyQuill, and hot tea galore, she spent the day nursing her moral and physical hangover — as well as her cold. Hours later, still feeling lousy, Sarah went to the student health center and got a strep and a blood test. The result: She had mono.

Rather than worrying about the state of her body, or (more importantly) her liver, she immediately worried about her hookups. She had both Colin and Derek on a cycle, wasn’t serious with either of them, but had swapped enough saliva with both to infect their bodies with the pesky virus she now endured.

Do I tell them? she pondered, Or just risk it and hope they both get lucky?

This scenario is all too common in college. I think it’s more uncommon to not get mono during your four years at university than to get it. However, what happens when your condition is even more serious? What if you find out you have HPV, Herpes, Chlamydia, or some other STD? Do you tell your current partner (and previous ones), or do you keep the secret to yourself and hope no one finds out?

This ethical dilemma is a scary but extremely realistic issue. According to a 2007 Stanford research study, 1 in 4 college students has an STD. A lot of the young adults are completely unaware they are even spreading a disease because they have never gotten tested. In order protect your partner, you need to actually know you’re infected. If you’re worried about your current state of cleanliness, head to your student health center, campus hospital, or STD testing site.

This conversation, however, is focused on those who have peed in that cup, gotten pricked with that needle (no pun intended), and received extremely undesirable results.

Morally, it’s important to tell your partner about any contagious little packages you may be carrying, from mono to HIV. In order to make sure your partner is protected, you need to wise up and take responsibility for your condition. Doing this is mortifying and difficult, but necessary. If you are in the know and can prevent the spread of a virus or bacterial infection, you should. You would want your partner to tell you, right?

So, we all know there’s a right way to handle the situation. If you’re infected, man up, tell your partner(s), and grab the nearest box of condoms. Ethically, if you know, you tell. If you don’t want to tell future partners, then you probably shouldn’t be in bed with them to begin with. But, as evidenced by the statistics, a lot of people are keeping their dirty little secrets to themselves mentally… and spreading them all around physically.

Even though Sarah only had mono, she proceeded to text each of the boys letting them know about her illness. They each went and got tested, came out of the entire situation mono-free, and were extremely grateful she told them about her virus. Yes, it was not the most pleasant experience for any of the parties involved. Rather, it was awkward and uncomfortable. But, it was a necessary precaution they all needed to take in order to ensure their well-being.

So, how would you handle this situation: Do you have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, or do you share all of your down-below info before getting serious with a special friend? And if you have had to tell previous partners (including old flames, casual hook ups and – eep! – bitter ex-boyfriends), how did you do it?

Use these.

Well, it’s back to school time again. Along with new teachers, new classes, and new assloads of work, we’re also going to be finding ourselves in a sea of new faces – which means one thing: fresh meat.

Whether you’re a freshman or a senior, college campuses everywhere will be packed with new people to party with, new people to study with, and yes, new people to have sex with. We all know the first few months of school are typically when the hormones of many kick in (this goes back to the “fresh meat” thing), and people everywhere are gettin’ busy. A lot.

So before we all pack up our stuff, say goodbye to free food and laundry and head back to school, here are a few STI facts to keep in mind when checking out all those new sexual prospects come September.

1 in 5 Americans are infected with an STI – That’s right, folks, 1 in 5. That means, in your class of 100, there’s a chance that somewhere near 20 people could be infected with some sort of STI. See now why it’s important to always use a condom?

The three most common STIs include Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and HPV. Luckily, many of us are eligible for the HPV vaccine which will almost completely eliminate our chance of contracting the forms of HPV that can lead to nasty genital and cervical cancers.

While most STIs can be treated with antibiotics and other medications, HIV, HPV, hepitits-B and herpes are incurable. While these diseases can be managed with the help of medication, you will (typically) carry the virus for life. Now, imagine having to have the “just so you know, I have herpes” talk with all of your future partners. Not so fun.

While most of us associate an STI with changes in our genitals (itching, burning, weird discharge), oftentimes there are no symptoms. The only way to be sure that you are STI-free is by getting tested regularly by your doctor – a simple routine that can be conducted at the same time that you get your annual PAP (or whenever it’s possible that you’ve been exposed to something). Women should be seeing a doctor for their annual physical/PAP smear once a year beginning when they become sexually active. If you do have symptoms, be sure to get to your doctor – your symptoms won’t go away just because you pretend they’re not there.

The good news is that most schools and health clinics offer free condoms to students and patients – some even offering a polyurethane alternative for those with latex allergies. We all know that condoms can be a little pricey, but stopping by the clinic and taking what you need is a perfectly reasonable alternative. Colleges go out of their way to make these resources available to their students because they know the importance of safe sex.

There is no excuse for putting your health at risk by having unsafe sex. Go out and have fun, but remember to get tested regularly and always, always, always use a condom.

Foreskin may be the only uncharted territory Americans have no desire to conquer. In our country, circumcision is common enough that a foreskin-free penis is the expectation, but elsewhere, that’s hardly the case. Though it remains the most common elective operation globally, the majority of men in the world don’t undergo it. Surprised? Dismayed? Completely alarmed that you can no longer take a European lover?

Don’t be.

The ever-proper Charlotte York may have once compared an uncut penis to a shar pei, but there’s no reason why you should be repulsed by foreskin.

Countless girlfriends of mine cringe at the thought of penises au natural, but my own varied sexual experiences have familiarized me with the lesser known peen and I’m on a mission to demystify it. Here’s some good news to start: uncut penises are pretty much the same as their counterparts. And yet, Americans and those with less colorful sexual pasts continue to treat foreskin as something of an anomaly and even a defect. I’ve isolated foreskinphobia into a few easily identifiable (and refutable) myths:

Foreskin is dirty. Female anatomy doesn’t exactly have the best reputation as far as smell is concerned, but it’d be ludicrous if a guy refused to sleep with me because he questioned my ability to clean myself. Since one would hope most men have mastered basic hygiene by the time they’re sexually active, concerns over cleanliness (or lack thereof) are mostly overblown or based on myths. An uncut penis is no dirtier than the alternative. If anything, guys with foreskin learn more about hygiene at an earlier age and are taught to be conscientious about cleaning themselves. And if hygiene really is an issue? Blame the man, not the foreskin. It’s not like his penis is actively opposing a shower.

Foreskin is ugly. This is a completely subjective opinion, so I can’t exactly debunk it, but attractiveness of genitalia is really in the eye/mouth/hand of the beholder. I’m personally indifferent to how penises look. An erect penis is far more aesthetically pleasing than a thumb, for example, but I’d still rather look into my boyfriend’s eyes than in his pants.   Ultimately, though, we shouldn’t subject our partners’ genitalia to our visual preferences. After all, as much as I like my own vagina, I don’t expect anyone else to be enthralled by it, nor do I think I should be judged on the basis of its appearance. If the presence of some extra skin is enough to dissuade you from ever pursuing a sexual relationship with a guy, then god forbid he actually have a physical defect, like an entire extra toe.

Foreskin puts you at risk for STIs. Some studies have shown a significant reduction in HIV transmission rates among circumcised men. So why isn’t the global medical community suggesting that men get snipped en masse?  For starters, these studies were done in extremely high-risk areas in Africa. Research in developed countries, such as Australia, has shown no difference in HIV transmission rates. Further, though the men in these studies were less likely to get HIV, their partners weren’t. Circumcision only improves the odds for the penetrative partners while those being penetrated (whether they were male or female) experienced the same rates of infection as partners of uncircumcised men. But more importantly, just because a guy has been circumcised doesn’t mean that you should forgo a condom. Ultimately, prevention of STIs depends on personal responsibility, not a decades’ old decision made by your partner’s parents.

All of the above seems pretty obvious, yet an American cultural bias against foreskin persists. The most feasible explanation, in my opinion,  is probably the following:

Foreskin is foreign. I mean that literally and figuratively. In the rest of the world, uncut is the norm. The great majority of European boys get to keep their foreskin. In the U.K., only 4 percent are circumcised every year. Even our northern neighbor, Canada, frowns upon the practice. (The Canadian Pediatric Society has stated officially that it doesn’t recommend routine circumcision unrelated to religious or cultural practices). The story’s quite different in the States, where 83 percent of American male infants born in the 1980s  — the majority of my sexual history — were circumcised. (That rate has declined to 55 percent in recent years.)

These seemingly meaningless numbers are actually quite significant. They mean that uncut penises remain foreign entities for many Americans. So perhaps what really bothers us is not hygiene, disease, or aesthetic underappreciation but rather, a lack of familiarity. Given how intimidated some of my friends are when face-to-face with a penis, it’s no surprise that they’re aghast upon encountering one that looks unlike all others before it.

Just remember: a penis is still a penis and friction is still your ally. Sure, your handjob or blowjob technique may have to undergo slight adjustments, but the end goal (and the way to reach it) remains the same. A couple inches of skin shouldn’t stand in the way of anyone’s pleasure, including your own.

We took the embarrassment (and speculum!) factor out of the equation and asked you, the CollegeCandy readers, to submit the questions you had regarding STDs and sexual health to our new pal, OB/GYN Dr. Lissa Rankin. Check out the first batch of questions she answered and get the rest of the info below:

1. If you have a high risk strain of HPV and so does your current partner, will my chances of it progressing to cervical cancer increase if we do not use a condom, and just use birth control? I am positive he is also monogamous.

Bummer about the HPV, but rest assured, you’re so not alone. As many as 80% of sexually active young people will test positive for HPV, even in the absence of symptoms.  If you and your partner already have a high risk strain of HPV and you’re both completely monogamous, using a condom probably won’t help you unless there are other strains of HPV or other STDs that the two of you have not already transmitted to each other.  Whether or not your high risk HPV leads to precancerous changes of the cervix, or worse, cervical cancer, has much more to do with how well your immune system functions.  The best thing you can do to avoid cervical cancer once you have high risk HPV is to eat a whole foods, healthy diet, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, take a multivitamin, manage your stress in healthy ways, and generally take good care of your body – all things that strengthen your immune system.  If you have access to an integrative medicine physician or a naturopathic doctor, there are herbal formulas that can help your body naturally fight the HPV. 

2. I would like to get a general STD test. However, I’m on a budget. I don’t want to spend money on a test because my mom will probably find out, and if I use my insurance my mom will probably find out! What can I do?
You can call your local public health clinic. Most offer free, anonymous STD testing, so your mother never needs to know (although, as a Mom myself, I highly encourage you to talk to your mom if you have a good relationship. You might be surprised how much we moms want to help, if we can get over our own embarrassment. Sometimes we need a good kick in the pants from our kids.)  Also, if you don’t have access to a public health clinic, donate blood. They won’t test for everything (like gonorrhea, chlamydia, or HPV), but it’s free, and you will be screened automatically for all blood-borne STD’s, such as HIV, hepatitis B & C, and syphilis.  If anything comes back abnormal, they will contact you to let you know.

3. What are the options for testing and the costs? Can you get anonymously tested?
There are many STDs, such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, hepatitis B and C, HIV, herpes, HPV, trichomonas, and pubic lice (crabs).  For most of them, you can be tested, through blood tests, urine or cervical testing, or visual inspection, depending on the type of STD.  Costs vary depending on the facility and your insurance coverage.  If you have health insurance, testing is covered much of the time.  If not, you can usually get free, anonymous testing at your local public health clinic.  But remember that peace of mind (and good health) is money well spent.

4. Is it okay to lie to your doctor with the famous “How many partners have you had” question?
As one of those doctors, I’m reluctant to say, “Sure, go ahead!  Lie to your doctors!”  After all, we’re here to be your friend, confidante, health-partner, and advisor – not a judge or the morality police.  That said, let me try to answer your question very honestly.  What we’re really looking for is a sense of how much risk you’ve assumed in your sexual life.  If you tell me you’ve had 101 partners by the time you’re 19, I’m gonna assume you haven’t been uber-careful, and I’m going to look very carefully for the kinds of health issues that accompany high risk behaviors.  (Not to mention, I’m going to worry about your self-esteem and wonder why you might be needing so much external validation, when the only place you can really find it is within).

On the other hand, if you tell me that you’ve only had one or two partners, it changes how I will care for you.  And if you’re nineteen and you’ve never had intercourse, it makes a big difference. I probably won’t even subject you to a pap smear yet, since, unless you’re having problems, you really don’t need one until you’re either 21 or sexually-active, whichever comes first.

But whether you’ve had 6 or 8 partners?  Whether you’ve had 23 or 31 partners?  To be honest, it really isn’t that important.  So if you’ve only told your boyfriend about 4 of your partners and there’s this one other you don’t want to admit to your doctor in front of him, go ahead and lie.  (Yikes, I can’t believe I just said that!)  But keep it in the ballpark.  That way we can optimize the kind of health care we provide for you.  But don’t bother wracking your brain to make sure you get the number exactly right.

[The following post is courtesy of Vanessa Cullins, M.D., Vice President of Medical Affairs at Planned Parenthood. If anyone knows anything about the importance of testing and sexual health, it is Dr. Cullins.]

Here’s a disturbing tidbit:  A U.S. government study found that an average of 14 percent of college women become infected with a human papilloma virus (HPV) each year. At the end of a three-year study, 43 percent of college women were infected.  Why should you care?  Because in some cases HPV can lead to cancer. To avoid HPV infection, girls and women should be vaccinated with Gardasil, which prevents infection of the types of HPV that cause 70 percent of the cases of cervical cancer in the U.S.

Here’s another: An estimated 19 million Americans are infected with a new sexually transmitted disease (STD) each year and, by the age of 25, half of all sexually active young people will contract an STD. In fact, at least one in four teenage girls already has an STD.

STDs continue to pose a serious public health threat in this country, particularly to young women, who are more vulnerable to infection than men, due to biological factors.

Because many STDs do not cause any symptoms — and most doctors do not automatically test for STDs — many women and men may not even realize that they are infected and at risk of spreading the infection to their partners.

Yet, without treatment, STDs can lead to serious short- and long-term health consequences, including infertility. Some untreated STDs, such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, with the potential for other serious health problems. Others, like HIV, permanently jeopardize a person’s health and can kill.

STDs are preventable, treatable, and in some instances, curable. Women and men should minimize their STD risk by practicing safer sex. The use of condoms significantly reduces the risk of contracting an STD during vaginal, oral, and anal sex. Monogamy is better than latex but it only works if both partners are uninfected and both remain committed to monogamy — the problem with relying on monogamy is that one can only be sure of one’s own behavior.

Regular STD testing is critical. Health care authorities suggest that young, sexually active women and men be screened annually for the most dangerous and common sexually transmitted infections: HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, if rates of gonorrhea are high in your community. Your local Planned Parenthood health care provider can talk with you about STDs and help you get the testing or treatment you may need. Visit www.plannedparenthood.org to locate your nearest health center. Or visit http://gyt09.org to learn about the “Get Yourself Tested” campaign, a partnership between Planned Parenthood, MTV, and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Denial and embarrassment are the two most dangerous risks to your sexual health. Both can keep you from getting tests and treatment.  This is the real deal:  All sexually active people are at risk for getting STDs — no matter how faithful, how clean, or how cool you may be.  So don’t let denial or shame jeopardize your health.  Practice safer sex, and get checked out every year to make sure you can enjoy your sex life for many more years to come, in addition to ensuring that you and your partner can experience pregnancy when the time is right.

Do you have that burning, itching, inflamed, oozey feeling south of the border? Maybe you don’t see or feel anything obvious but you just have that nagging suspicion that last week’s man-whore frat-guy gave you more than his number. Either way, it’s time you got checked out.

Even if you don’t suspect any foul play but just want to be on the safe side, you should set up an appointment. Not sure where to start? Here’s everything you need to know before you put on the paper gown.

Where to Go: Taking that first step can be a little scary. Even just trying to find a testing sight can seem overwhelming, not to mention difficult. Sometimes religious activists set up websites mimicking health facilities in order to preach their message. But lucky for you, the Center for Disease Control and Planned Parenthood are the only websites you’ll need on your quest for sexual health. Plug in your zip code or state and watch as your screen gets flooded with every test site in a ten mile radius. The CDC also has a great feature that tells you who offers free testing.

What you should know before you go: Know the difference between “anonymous” and “confidential” HIV testing. Anonymous tests won’t link your name to your results, whereas confidential information could be made available to medical personnel. Be sure to ask about financial costs, how you’ll receive your test results and how long those results will take. It’s always good to know what to expect that way there will be no surprises later.

Testing: I am terrified of doctors, I don’t like the smells, the instruments, their crisp white coats, even the terminology creeps me out (I’m going to apologize for using said terminology below, but hooha and peen just didn’t seem appropiate). The whole experience gives me that pre-diarrhea feeling but I learned the best way to cope is to know what to expect before going in. Here are all the different tests that are out there. It seems like a lot, but different tests are specific to different infections so chances are you’ll be finished after a quick swab and a blood test.

• Blood test: This can test for hepatitis A, B and C; herpes (Although most blood tests for herpes cannot distinguish between type 1 and type 2), syphilis, and HIV.
• Urine test: This can be used to test for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV.
• Swab cell culture or discharge sample from the throat, anus, cervix, or urethral opening of the penis: This is used to test for bacterial vaginosis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis.
• Swab DNA test from the cervix or urethral opening of the penis: This is used to test for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HPV. The HPV DNA test is used for women as follow up to an abnormal Pap smear that indicates HPV infection. It is not reliable for testing HPV in men.
• Swab sample from a sore or lesion: This can be used to test for herpes and syphilis.
• Swab sample from oral fluids: This can be used to test for HIV.
• Visual Exam: This can detect crabs, herpes, and HPV.

The Results: So let’s say you did the right thing, got tested, and the results were less than perfect. Don’t freak out. Your doctor will set you up with a treatment plan. There are magic little pills that can clear that mess right up, or at least treat any uncomfortable symptoms and help prevent further infection.

If you still have questions be sure to Ask the Experts and have a Happy STD Awareness Day!