Therefore, STI transmission can occur even when barrier methods are used. Some STIs, such as HPV (human papilloma virus) and herpes, can be transmitted via skin-to-skin contact through warts/sores that may not be visible or covered by barriers. condoms, dental dams, gloves) prevent STI (sexually transmitted infection) transmission by blocking the exchange of body fluids. Yet engaging in any intimate contact in which you or others are exposed to body fluids (vaginal fluids, semen, blood, and pre-ejaculate) carries risks for all partners. Many people think of oral sex or anal sex as safer sex because pregnancy cannot occur.
Today “safer sex”, based on the understanding that having sex brings some level of risk and that people can be proactive about minimizing this risk, is widely recommended as a practice for sexually active people. In “How to Have Sex in an Epidemic”, AIDS activists Richard Berkowitz and Michael Callen introduced the concept of “safer sex” as methods gay men could use to reduce the possibility of infecting one another with the pathogen causing AIDS (later identified as HIV).
The phrase “safer sex”itself did not emerge until the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
