STIs - are sex purchasers doing their part

I heard on the radio that Vancouver hosted a global conference on STIs this week and I also noticed a recent thread about the increase in the reporting of certain STIs.

As a purchaser of sex, do you take personal responsibility for the safety of the community by being regularly tested? Or do you place the responsibility for your safety on the sex workers you visit hoping they get tested regularly? If you do get tested, do you go to a walk-in clinic or your gp? If you test positive for an STI, do you reach out to all the sex workers you have visited since your last test to inform them? In the same circumstance, do you expect sex workers to reach out to you? Do you stigmatize STIs or people who have had an STI?

I am mainly interested because just like during flu season, if an undetected STI infected individual is super sexually active, it could victimize a lot of people in our community, both sex workers and purchasers, and beyond.

badbadboy said:

I get tested quarterly at the walk-in clinic at Davie & Bute. It's anonymous and the results are available in one week. (Don't go there the week after Pride is my only advise )

I had one scare that turned out to be a UTI not a STI. I contacted the past five SP with 4 out of 5 taking it well. Turned out to be nothing to worry about for all of us.

There is no sense stigmatizing a notice of an STI. I have more faith in SW being regularly tested than civilians.

Click to expand...

I am glad you wouldn't stigmatize a sex worker/service provider who informs you of a possible exposure to an STI.

As a sex purchaser who enjoys bbbj, daty and dfk with sex workers, I know I am taking a risk that a previous infected client has already passed their infection to the sex worker I am now engaging with, and regardless of a sex worker's hygiene or testing regime, I can be exposed to the infection.

When I see how prolific and incestuous some sex purchasers 'lists' are, I sure hope they are being responsible and getting tested as often as sex workers are. Personally, I know I have room for improvement.