My STD Story – I Am Not Ashamed of it
I
Got genital warts when I was 20 years old. From my first long-term boyfriend,
we'd been together like three years and were going to be a part of different
countries for a long period. He ended up sleeping with one of my friends. While
we had this open relationship, we agreed that he would always use condoms. I
got back to new york assuming and trusting that had happened and then he got a
case of warts all over told me that he hadn't used a condom.
So
I felt betrayed and sad and lost trust, so I ended up breaking up with him and
spending a few months nervous and freaked out that I was going to get warts too
and checking in the mirror every day like bending over like checking all my
skin and then about three months later.
A little wart popped upright on the skin of my
vagina and another one like kind of back near my perineum, and I felt horrified
like I felt like my life was over. I felt like no one would ever have to date
me again. I felt ashamed and disgusted with all kinds of stuff, and I went to
the doctor. I got a little cream they went away about a year later. I fell
madly in love with this guy on a holiday romance, and he was going to come back
from Australia, and we were going to spend this like epic two weeks together
and right before.
He
got back, I found another one, and I went and got it burned off, but I knew I
had to tell him, so the night he got there, I was freaking out. I thought he
wouldn't want to be with me. I thought he would be just disgusted, and I told
him about what genital warts are. I told him that I had him. He was like, I'm
not going to die. I was like, no. You're not going to die. He's like, all
right, that's cool. I love you, and that in itself was amazing and healing.
They
never came back after my body cleared the virus, but I'm sharing this with you
because as I did a lot of research, immunology at Stanford grew a lot in my
understanding. I was like, how can we feel so much shame around STDs. I got
genital herpes, I have cervical HPV in my cervix, I have chlamydia gonorrhea, and
they feel so horrible about it, and I think about it. If you get flu from your
lover, you feel dirty like no one wants the flu, but you don't feel ashamed.
If
you get the cold from making out with someone at a bar, you don't feel guilty
or that you did something bad. Still, as soon as it's on our genitals, all of a
sudden, we feel horrible, like there's something so wrong with us. I thought
back, you know I did dating education in the state of Georgia, and one of my
first introductions to dating was these huge photos of like penises and vaginas
just like disfigured with herpes and warts and all kinds of stuff. It was
horrifying, and so it's so like we associate so deeply that these things we
should be ashamed of them.
We
should be terrified of them now. That's not saying that you don't want to
protect yourself get tested. Use protection. Of course, you do. No one wants a
virus, but if you get a virus, it doesn't mean that you need to feel guilty
shamed any of that stuff. the truth is that every woman in my generation that
I've talked to has had HPV in some form, either cervical HPV or warts on the
skin.Don't be ashamed of being rejected by your partner because of your status. be positive and move from there and if they really love you they don't need about your virus and also when disclosing your herpes status you need to know few important tips.
Pretty
much almost everyone I've talked to has gotten genital herpes. It's like half,
or even more of the population has it, so if you have that, you're not alone.
So many of us have herpes viruses, so I get herpes simplex once I get the
little cold sores on my lips. We've all had herpes simplex three. Guess what
that is? It's chickenpox. You feel like people are dirty and disgusting because
they had chickenpox no epste in bar virus aka mono and a herpes virus number
four most of us have also had that, and we don't feel ashamed.
So
I'm just telling you this to let you know that the shame isn't real. You don't
have to feel that way. You want to look out for yourself. You want to be
healthy, but you don't feel like a shameful person when you get any other virus
in your system. It's only a sexually transmitted disease, and there is nothing
shameful about that. If anyone rejects your love for your STDs status, then
visit STD Dating Sites, which is you don't need to disclose your status to
anyone, and all profiles are made 100% secure and safe.
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