Improving Your Sexual Health 189
If sex is painful
Sex should not be painful. Pain
during sex is usually a sign that
something is wrong. A woman
may feel pain with sex when:
• her partner enters her
too soon, before she is
relaxed or wet enough.
• she feels guilt or shame, or
does not want to have sex.
• she has an infection or growth in her vagina or lower belly
(see page 356).
• she has had genital cutting (see page 463).
IMPORTANT Pain during sex can be a sign of serious infection,
especially if it comes soon after childbirth, miscarriage, or abortion,
or if the woman also has a discharge from her vagina. See a health
worker right away.
Making sex safer
Why practice ‘safer sex’?
There are often risks involved with sex, but there are ways to
make it safer. We say “safer” sex as a way of reminding people
that less risk is not the same as no risk. But, safer sex can save
your life.
Like all infections that people get, sexually transmitted
infections (STIs) are caused by germs. Some infections are
caused by germs passed through the air, food, or water. STIs
are passed through sexual contact. Some STIs cause sores or
discharge on the genitals, but you usually cannot tell if a person
has an STI just by looking. Many men and women can have STIs
without knowing it themselves.
The germs that cause some STIs (like genital warts or herpes)
are on the skin of the genitals and are passed by skin-to-skin
contact. The germs that cause other STIs, (like gonorrhea,
chlamydia, hepatitis, syphilis, and HIV) live in the body fluids of
an infected person. These are passed when blood, semen, or the
wetness of the vagina of an infected person comes in contact
with the skin of the vagina, anus, tip of the penis, or mouth of
another person. All of these infections can cause serious health
problems. HIV, without ongoing treatment, is fatal.
So, to practice safer sex means having as little contact as
possible with the skin of your partner’s genitals, and with his or
her body fluids unless you are absolutely certain that he or she is
not infected with any STI.
STIs, 261
HIV and AIDS, 283
Protect yourself
from HIV and other
sexually transmitted
infections: put on
a latex condom
before your partner’s
genitals touch yours.
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012