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These Social Media Sex Ed Gals Will Change How You Think About STIs

They know.

So sex education wasn’t all it cracked up to be was it? From dodgy condom cucumber demos to vagina monologues, put an out-of-touch science teacher in with a room full of self-conscious, hormonal-as-f**k teenagers and it’s easy to see how sex ed can become cringey, at best.

And you’re not the only ones to have noticed the elephant in the sex ed classroom. Young people have taken to social media to take things into their own hands, knowing that students are too embarrassed to ask questions they need answering and don’t have anyone else to turn to for info.

And what we love most is when our fave social media sex ed gals get real about catching STIs because NO-ONE is immune, there are loads of misconceptions surrounding them, and we all just straight up need to talk about STIs, already. Here they are with their pearls of wisdom:

Laci Green

YouTube’s no. 1 sex guru Laci Green covers pretty much every sex topic under the sun. Like, literally, you could spend hours on her channel and still be learning new sh*t.

And here’s some of the stuff she’s said about STIs:

“Women who have a lot of sex – we have a lot of names for them: sluts, whores, skanks… the list of nasty labels is quite long... We’re guilted and shamed for having sex, for not having sex, for pursuing sex, for denying sex. You know sometimes it feels like you just can’t win.

And I’ve found this is applicable to carrying condoms as well. You pull out a condom in the bedroom and some less enlightened types are like ‘do you always have condoms on you?’ Err, yeah, it’s called being a grown-ass woman who cares about her health.”

PREACH.

And, just because she’s Queen of all things sex ed, here she is again:

“The hilarious thing about STDs is that no one thinks that they’ll get one but the reality is that millions of people contract STDs every year

Our society treats STDs like they’re the grossest, dirtiest, nastiest things ever, like you are just a disgrace, forever tainted.

Sexually transmitted infections are no different than a cold sore, no different than the flu, no different than a lung infection, so then why does society attach all this extra baggage? Because it’s related to sex and people are weird, super weird, about sex.”

So damn true.

Eileen Kelly

New York sex educator Eileen Kelly may be young, but she knows her stuff. Famous for her sex ed blog which answers young peoples’ questions about anything from inserting their first tampon to anal sex, she’s got a Planned Parenthood qualification to teach sex ed, and she’s doing it in style. Her Instagram account ‘killerandasweetthang’ has also racked up more than 400k followers.

Having grown up in a religious school that taught abstinence instead of real sex ed, and in the absence of a mother through her teen years, Eileen found herself confused and lost when it came to all things sex. She’s determined not to let young people go through the same experience, cos knowledge = power.

And among other things, she’s educating everyone about STIs:

“Turning a blind eye or pretending like certain issues exclude you is a recipe for disaster. Become aware of all the STIs, and the risks of being sexually active. The more you know, the safer you will be – trust me.”

And when she posted a pic of her specialised sexy Eileen condoms, she said this:

Condoms for all, that’s what we say.

Shannon Boodram

Journalist, YouTuber and generally talented individual Shannon Boodram decided to take STI awareness-raising TO ANOTHER LEVEL.

She went out to the streets, armed with signs, to announce to everyone on camera that she was a ‘survivor’ of chlamydia… or rather the stigma of chlamydia, and she had some surprising statistics up her sleeve that show us that NO-ONE is actually immune:

“50% of women who are infected with chlamydia show no symptoms at all… I am also part of this statistic. I was in a committed relationship and about three or four months in I got onto birth control and we decided that we didn’t need to use condoms any more…”

Shannon revealed that her mum who works as a nurse offered her a free health assessment at work about a year into Shannon’s relationship… and she tested positive for chlamydia. Despite having got tested before the relationship and staying committed to her BF. How? He was cheating on her.

“That’s how I found out that my monogamous relationship was anything but, and it turns out I’m not alone. One in four people who think that they’re in a monogamous relationship… that’s not really quite the truth. Which is why, to this day, no matter who I’m with, what we’re doing or how long we’ve been together, I walk with one of these.”

Ouch. Shannon’s message is a powerful and very important one – it shows how careful you have to be to keep yourself 100% safe.

Hannah Witton

Hannah Witton is a YouTuber covering all things sex and relationships and, although she’s only in her 20s, she’s totally wise.

Here she is talking about STIs during a Q & I sesh:

“You wanna be aware of them and you wanna be keeping safe but you don’t wanna obsess over them in the sense of disgust and shame and embarrassment and all of those negative feelings that could be associated with them…

Speaking of STDs and STIs, I actually went to the sexual health clinic this morning… had a blood test, did my own vaginal swab in private, so, ya know, bish bash bosh, lovely jubly,” she said.

“If you do have an STI you’re not dirty. You’re not digusting.”

Well, precisely – bish, bash, bosh.

Arielle Scarcella

Ariella Scarcella is a YouTuber who also covers sex and relationships BUT she talks about them through an LGBTQ lens, and often in relation to her own lesbian relationships. Her vids are totally fascinating and unique because of it as there’s a LOT that people don’t know or realise.

For this specific vid Arielle joined up with Christine, a gynaecology PA (who incidentally also identifies as lesbian), to get the low-down on the risk of catching STIs during lesbian sex. They asked for questions from viewers so that people would get the chance to ask anything they were too embarrassed to ask their doctor about on the topic of safe lesbian sex.

When someone asked why lesbians aren’t often as concerned about safe sex, Christine reasoned:

“I think that lesbians don’t think it’s important to wear condoms… (because) condom means penis and in lesbian relationship there’s no penises…”

But she stressed there’s still just the same amount of risk of catching STIs involved, but that they are just transferred in other ways, “The most important thing about condoms is putting them on your toys… on your finger or on your tongue.”

At the beginning of the vid Arielle said she has previously been guilty of not having safe sex, but said that was the reason for making the video – to remind everyone that just because there is no penis involved, doesn’t mean contraception should go out the window AT ALL.

“Get tested, use a condom, and consent,” Arielle said to wrap it up (if you pardon the pun).

'Now why not check out what our Sex Squad have been getting up to...'

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