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Sexual health is an important topic, and often avoided. It is a mature topic, but it should be normalized more. Being educated and knowledgeable of your actions is important so you don't do something you would regret later such as unplanned pregnancy, STD, and more.

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The very first step in order to maintain good sexual health is to have a clear understanding between you and your partner. A healthy relationship between two people can include:

-Set and respected boundaries
-Mutual trust between partners
-Open and truthful conversations
-Compromise from all partners
-Room for individuality, not controlling

and much more. It is important to first set the rules and policies that align with all partner and not push someone, not get pushed into doing something they do not feel 100% comfortable doing.

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Avoiding Situations where You May Be Pressured To have Sex - Tips to Avoid These Situations

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Avoiding Situations where You May Be Pressured To have Sex - Tips to Avoid These Situations

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-Say no
-Avoid being alone with someone who would pressure you
-Avoid drugs and alcohol so you can think clearly
-Practice and be ready for what to say
-Be confident and bold and stick up for yourself, don't give in
-Talk to people you trust and seek help

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Chlamydia is a bacterial STI that is transmutable from sexual fluids. If left untreated in women, problems such as infertility may occur, however this STI is curable with antibiotics.

Statistics:

-1 in 20 sexually active young women ages 14-24 have Chlamydia
-Chlamydia rates for African Americans/Blacks were six times that of Whites
-Much more female have chlamydia compared to men
-There is about 624.9 cases of chlamydia for every 100k people in Maryland
-D.C. has the most cases of chlamydia in the U.S., with about 1,299 cases per 100k people

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Pubic lice is a parasitic STI, and is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. Like regular head hair lice, it can lead to itching and extreme itching can lead to bacterial infections. There are medicated shampoos to help kill the parasites.

Statistics:

-There are an estimated 3 million cases of pubic lice yearly

I could not find any more quantitative statistics for pubic lice.

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HIV is a STI that can be transmitted by blood, semen, pre-ejaculation, or vaginal fluid. This is a viral type of STI and can be passed down to children of women who are diagnosed with HIV. AIDs is the disease caused by the damage that HIV does to the immune system. There is not 100% cure for this, but there are medications to suppress the effects of HIV/AIDs.

Statistics:

-About 1.2 million people in the U.S. have HIV
-About 13% of the 1.2 mil. don't know they have it
-HIV/AIDs is most common in African Americans, Hispanics, and whites, with them dominating about 94% of all HIV/AIDs cases
-About 31,676 people in Maryland had HIV at the end of 2022, most being males
-Less then 40% of people have ever been tested for HIV

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Sexual abstinence is the abstinence from sex, meaning no sex. This is the only 100% certain way to avoid STD transmission, and unwanted pregnancies. Abstinence includes all forms of sex, such as anal, oral, etc...

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Consent is a important thing to receive before carrying on with any intercourse or any intimate activity to make sure all parties are comfortable with what is going on.

Consent needs a lot of assurance and has many limitations. For example, the legal age required to give consent is 16, meaning anyone under 16 cannot give legal consent. All partners must be sober when giving consent, and sometimes when non-verbal consent is not clear enough verbal consent must be given.

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-Think before your actions, they can lead to consequences
-If you ever plan on having sex know the consequences, and use protection
-Practicing sexual abstinence is the only 100% way to prevent unplanned parenthood and STD/STI infections

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https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/OIDPCS/CSTIP/pages/Home.aspx

https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html

https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/chlamydia/state/MD

These are valid sources because they are .gov and .org.

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STD, sexually transmitted diseases, are illnesses that span from a wide range of severity, to symptoms, to how it spreads. Examples of STDs are Chlamydia, HIV/AIDS, and Pubic Lice.

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Avoiding Situations where You May Be Pressured To have Sex

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Avoiding Situations where You May Be Pressured To have Sex

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You may find yourself in a situation in the future that you may feel pressured to say yes to sex, but you are never obligated to if you don't want to. Never say yes to a situation when you don't want to, and tell them no. If you feel you are unsafe then you should try to leave as quick as you can.