What is Safer Sex?

Safer sex is anything we do during sex play to reduce our risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection. Even though a lot of people say "safe sex" instead of "safer sex," there is no kind of skin-to-skin sex play with a partner that is totally risk-free. But being "safer" is something all of us can do.

These are the most important ways to practice safer sex:

• Understand and be honest about the risks we take.
• Keep our blood, pre-cum, semen, or vaginal fluids out of each other's bodies.
• Always use latex or female condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse.
• Don't have sex play when we have a sore caused by a sexually transmitted infection.
• Find ways to make safer sex as pleasurable as possible.

How Can I Lower My Risk Using Safer Sex?

One way to have safer sex is to only have one partner who has no sexually transmitted infections and no other partners than you. But, this isn't always the safest kind of safer sex. That's because most people don't know when they have infections. They are very likely to pass them on without knowing it.

Another other reason is that some people aren't as honest as they should be. In fact, about 1 out of 3 people will say they don't have an infection when they know they do, just to have sex. So most of us have to find other ways to practice safer sex.

Another way to practice safer sex is to only have sex play that has no risk — or a lower risk — of passing STDs. This means no vaginal or anal intercourse. Many of us find that great sex is about a lot more than a penis going in a vagina or anus. It is about exploring the many other ways you and your partner can turn each other on. Not only is it a way to discover new sexual pleasures, it's also safer.

No-risk safer sex play includes:

• masturbation
• mutual masturbation 
• cybersex 
• phone sex 
• sharing fantasies

Low-risk safer sex play includes:

• kissing
• fondling — manual stimulation of one another 
• sexy massage 
• body-to-body rubbing — frottage, "grinding," or "dry humping" 
• oral sex (even safer with a condom or other barrier) 
• playing with sex toys — alone or with a partner

The highest risk kinds of sex play are:

• vaginal intercourse
• anal intercourse

Luckily, we can use condoms during vaginal and anal intercourse to make them safer.

       print page