Why I Celebrate The Day I Was Diagnosed With Herpes
On May 9, I commemorate a very important anniversary.
Read MoreTag: sexual health
Why I Will Never Support Herpes or STI Dating Sites
Let me be very clear: I will never endorse an STI dating site. Period. Ever. You’ve got the wrong woman.
Read MoreWatch My TEDx Talk: STIs aren’t a consequence. They’re inevitable. [With Transcript]
I don’t care how you got herpes. An STI is not a reflection of your character or a consequence of a bad decision.
Read MoreIt’s STD Awareness Month 2016. Why Aren’t We Celebrating?
STD awareness is celebrating us, the people who live with STDs and dare to be, y’know, okay.
Read MoreThe Herpes Interviews: The Guy From The Bar
“I think the fact that I’m here tonight after five weeks speaks for itself.”
Read MoreI Am Not “Suffering” From Herpes
I’m exhausted today. Someone I’m seeing came over late last night to, in his words, “fuck the shit out of me,” and by the time he left it was just shy of 1:30am. I took a shower and then lazed around in bed, smelling him in my hair and remembering how he kissed my neck, how […]
Read MoreWhy Should I Date Someone With Herpes?
Here’s another pet peeve of my email inbox: when a man (because it’s almost always a man) asks me if he should continue seeing this woman he’s been dating who just told him she has herpes. Sometimes the question is data-based, about what transmission statistics are real. Sometimes the question is esoteric, about whether or not […]
Read MoreWhy STDRegistry.com Is Disgusting, and Outing Your Ex as STI+ Makes You an Asshole
A few weeks ago I wrote a carefully crafted essay on my conflicted feelings about individuals who fail to disclose their herpes status and the criminalization of the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. These are painful topics, highly subjective and personal, and I delicately side-stepped any absolutes on what is and is not immoral. My […]
Read MoreDear VICE, Stop Using This Photo of a Smashed Banana on Your STI Articles
Look, VICE. We need to have a quick chat. You’ve been on the STI beat this year, and I respect that. One of your journalists wrote a great piece about me over the summer and she was super lovely and considerate. It was a positive experience. But then the article used a repulsive image of […]
Read MoreTo The Woman Who Announced Her STI on Snapchat
I learned about you when I Googled myself—as a narcissist is wont to do—and discovered I’d been mentioned in an article about you on the Daily Star. I’m not entirely sure why my efforts to destigmatize herpes were mentioned in the article, which was a masterpiece of stigmatizing, sensationalized journalism that in no way respected […]
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