Making Safer Sexy

What is Safer Sex?

Safer sex is about reducing the risks of contracting or transmitting an infection through sexual activity by preventing the transfer of body fluids, e.g. blood, semen, vaginal or cervical secretions, from one person into the bloodstream of another person.

Some sexually transmitted infections are more easily transmitted than others, and some sexual activities provide more opportunity for the transmission of infections. Anal sex without a condom carries a higher risk for contracting an STI. This is because the anal wall is just one cell thick and can tear fairly easily as it is not self-lubricating.

It is not possible to categorise different sexual activities into High Risk and Low Risk boxes because it depends upon which infection and sexual activity you're talking about. It is important to have an understanding of different STIs, how they are transmitted, and to think about different sexual activities and the opportunities they present for transmission. A particular sexual activity rarely happens in isolation, so it's also important to consider the effect of different combinations of sexual activity and the order in which they occur.

Doing all this thinking in the heat of the moment is obviously going to be a bit of a turn off, so take some time on your own to browse through this website and others and think through some of these issues for yourself. It also helps to talk about them with friends, or you could contact us or talk to a Health Adviser at a sexual health clinic.