UA, I'm really sorry to hear about that. Although I agree that we must face the fact that we are taking a risk, that doesn't mean we aren't going to be shocked and upset if the worst happens. Very often you don't realize how you're going to feel about something until it actually happens. It's easy to tell yourself that you know the risks and you're going to take it in your stride when it's just theory. In practice emotions can take you by surprise. That goes for being recognized by your photos as well as catching an STD.
I'm glad your friend apologized. It was mean of him to try to offload all the blame onto you. He probably said it because he too was shocked and upset at the time (no excuse of course). You say you think you got it from intercourse with this guy - maybe you should put your mind at rest by not having unprotected intercourse with anyone at all until you meet Mr Right. As you implied yourself, clients and sex workers are no more likely to have STDs than any other promiscuous person. If you insist on protection with clients, why not the guys you're dating?
The oral question is a difficult one. I know I feel a lot of pressure to do it. It's not that people don't respect my right not to do it. In fact, I think the majority of men are very understanding about this. The problem is that many of them will respectfully take their business elsewhere. I seem to remember sw5 saying that this was even more of a problem for gay escorts.
The important thing to remember is that you're almost certainly not going get HIV from oral, but there's no doubt you can catch the other stuff from it. I know three men who have caught gonorrhoea from oral and now refuse to have unprotected oral either way around. Two caught it in their mouths from girls who were carrying it in their vaginas, the other caught it in his penis from a girl who was carrying it in her mouth. That last one surprised me, but he said that he was able to be certain because he had had sexual contact only once during the relevant period, and it was just a BJ, no genital contact at all.
I'm sure my sexual health adviser once mentioned that infection rates are higher with CIM. I'm having a check up soon so I'll ask her if that's the case. If it is, maybe you could cut your risk a bit by inviting your clients to give you a facial. It won't make you completely safe because you'll still be in contact with precum, but every little helps.
I also read recently (can't remember where) that there is growing suspicion that mouth cancers in people who don't smoke are likely to be caused by HPV in the mouth contracted during oral sex. The gardasil vaccine may help protect you, but it costs a bomb.
Have you been vaccinated against Hep B? I'm not sure if you can catch it orally or not, but if you've had the vaccine it's one less thing to worry about.
I'm still in the early stages of finding out about STDs, so if any one has any additional or contradictory info on the above, I would be glad to have it.
Topic: SAAFE, I feel safe again, but OH My Gosh!!!! You wont believe this... (Read 17856 times)