Protect Thy Self & Other

- Jade, 14, Nova Scotia

You've heard of STI's and STD's but what do you really know about them? STI is a Sexually Transmitted Infection and an STD is a Sexually Transmitted Disease. STI’s such as crabs can be cured and STD's such as AIDS cannot.

There is no cure for AIDS  and scientists are working hard on finding one, but found nothing so far. AIDS is killing teens and adults daily. AIDS comes from unprotected sex may it be oral, anal or vaginal sex. You can catch AIDS, so don’t think that it's one of those "it won't happen to me" type of situations. It can happen to anyone at any given time if you have unprotected - or sometimes even protected - sex. All we ask as teens is that you  protect yourself the best ways you can. That is why we have condoms, diaphragms, mini pills, birth control and other types of protection. STI's and STD's are spreading fast in the teen population and if you look at the chain you will see why: you can have sex with a certain partner but they could have had sex with someone else before you and then their other partner could have had sex with someone else also and the teen sex chain just goes on and on. So, people can be  passing STI's and STD's to one another and  don’t even know it because they decided not to take the time to go get tested. So if you plan on having sex, it is a good idea to ask yourself these questions...R YA' really ready, RYA' doing this because you want to or because you feel pressured? Then talk to your partner about safe sex, prior partners they might have been with and about getting tested. Taking the time to talk about these issues could save you a lot of trouble. My advice to you... Be safe and think about your safety first!