Navigating Sexual Health: Effective Ways to Protect Your Partner
September is Sexual Health Awareness Month, a timely reminder of the importance of practicing safe sex and understanding how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Sexual health is a vital yet often uncomfortable topic, but addressing it openly can significantly impact your well-being. In this blog, we will explore key strategies for safe sex, including condom use, regular testing, and open communication with your partner. Embrace the Essentials of Safe Sex Sexual health is fundamental to overall well-being, yet discussions around it can be shrouded in discomfort and taboo. Educating yourself and practicing safe sex are crucial for reducing the …
How to be an ally to the LGBTQ community
June is Pride Month, and it is the perfect time for the straight community to celebrate and reacquaint themselves with the LGBTQ community through education. According to a recent CNN article, here are eight suggestions to try. Get familiar with the spectrum. Sexual identity can be confusing, but a good place to start is to know the range of identities on the LGBTQ spectrum. Start with terms like gender fluid, transgender, pansexual, bisexual, asexual, cisgender, intersex, queer, genderqueer. Ask the question. Use the appropriate pronouns by asking your friends how they prefer to identify. This act shows sensitivity and, more importantly, respect. Make a small gesture …
Peer Pressure in College
Peer pressure is not a myth. It’s a real thing that can have serious consequences. Have you ever felt pressured to try alcohol, drugs, or sex? Peer pressure is one of the most powerful forces in human nature, and it affects our lives every single day. This post will explore how peer pressure affects college students and what we can do about it. With a specific focus on college nightlife, it’s essential to know how to navigate peer pressure situations when it comes to drinking and unprotected sex. With students returning to college this year, it’s important to understand how …
Y’all Means All
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), based in Montgomery, Alabama, has launched a new public education campaign to curb the use of the word “y’all” in certain southern states. The campaign, dubbed “Y’all Means All,” is intended to stop some people from using the word “y’all” as a way to exclude the LGBTQ community and other minorities. The word “y’all” is used primarily by white people in the southern United States. The SPLC is worried that y’all could be misinterpreted as a slur against the LGBTQ community when the word “y’all” is actually a contraction of “you” and “all,” giving the term …
How Different Countries Celebrate World AIDS Day
It is important that while living through the coronavirus pandemic, we don’t forget about the other pandemic affecting more than 38 million people across the globe. In 2019, almost 40 million people worldwide were living with HIV or AIDS; nearly two million of those infected were below the age of 15. In light of World AIDS Day, understanding how we can combat AIDS and stop the spread of HIV is something we can all apply to sexual and physical health in general. …
COVID’s Impact on HIV
COVID is changing humanity in ways that would have been hard to imagine before the onset of the pandemic. Almost every aspect of life has shifted. Shops are now scanning clients’ temperatures, schools are social distancing, and a large swath of the workforce has transitioned to working from home. However, there’s no arguing that the health sector has been the most impacted. …
How Are You Being Safe at College?
Usually, midsummer would be a time to relax, but no one feels entirely at ease under the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. College students are in a unique situation, with a once-in-a-lifetime experience being completely altered. Some schools have already decided to go mostly virtual, while others are still in the air in terms of their decision making. These are unusual and strange circumstances for everyone, but there’s no arguing against the fact that safety should be paramount. This includes steps the colleges take as well as your responsibility. Here are some of the things you can do as we get …
Post Pride, Now What?
Pride Month in Fort Worth and across the world took on a very different look this year, with COVID-19 putting a halt to the parades, celebrations, and other events we commonly associate with June in the LGBTQ community. However, that doesn’t mean that nothing took place at all. Here’s what Pride Month 2020 looked like in Fort Worth, as well as what the community is doing to be supportive throughout the rest of the year. Fort Worth and Pride Month In a Pride Month, where social distancing was required, what were some of the events we saw this year? The …