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VD: Valentine’s Day or Venereal Disease?
Featured Author:
Dianne McDonald
Dianne McDonald is a weekly columnist for the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA. Her “Everyday Feminist” column addresses the topics that are important to “womyn” with a feminist perspective. Dianne has been an ethnographic researcher investigating women’s-only spaces and the community that those spaces promote. Dianne graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Women’s Studies. She lives in Marshfield, MA with her husband Jason, and their five children aged two through 19.
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Dianne McDonald | Excelle
February 09, 2009
With all the talk of love and romance surrounding Valentine’s Day, let’s take a minute to discuss sexually transmitted diseases, a topic still considered taboo by too many people, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated, in a 2007 report, that STDs are “hidden epidemics.”
Tragically, many women guard the topic of sexuality so much that they do not discuss STDs with their partners. No one wants to talk about gonorrhea, genital herpes or HPV during a date. How do you bring it up over dinner?
“The special tonight is linguine and clam … uh … chlamydia?’’ Buzz kill.
Timing is everything. Find the time for the talk. The topic can be challenging to initiate and bringing it up during intimate foreplay certainly equals passion-death. But the subject really can include life-changing information. Never discussing STDs and having unprotected sex can result in lifelong health conditions and even death.
Inform yourself. And inform your children.
Sometimes by the time parents have enough guts to talk about sex with their adolescents, it’s too late. A quarter of all teens have had sex by age 15, according to the Kinsey Institute. That number climbs to nearly 40 percent by age 16.
We women have to be proactive with our children and ourselves when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases. If I can transition the topic from Valentine’s Day to venereal disease, then so can you. STD risks can be reduced and avoided. The first step is simply addressing the issue.
Box of chocolates – $20.
Box of long-stem roses – $75.
Box of condoms – priceless.
