I find it ,very, very scary and hard to believe that in this day and age, with all of the mass media educating every man, woman and child about the dangers of unsafe sex, std's, herpes and HIV, that we would still have 53% OF THE TER Voters THAT DO NOT EVER GET TESTED! According to the latest poll.

How often do you get tested for STD's?

7%  Every 3 MO
9%  Every 6 MO
29%  Each Year
53%  Never
 

That is something each and every one of us that do get tested regularly, (I get blood and urine tested every 90 days at the least) need too speak about to anyone and everyone we know that is sexually active, and not currently getting tested at least twice per year. If you don't care about your friends enough to inform them of this extremely dangerous non-practice of theirs, you are letting your friends quite possibly kill themselves, and someone else you might know too, like your favorite GFE that you have both seen, and oh ya yourself too. Remember you are sleeping with all of your partners pasts each time you go there. That is my opinion, and I am scared enough to YELL ABOUT IT!

I don't disagree with you and I have to confess to being in the 53%, but I rarely engage in the hobby.

Judging by the number of reviews you've posted, and past posts to the TER discussion boards, you would seem to be very active.  Given all of your activity and your regular testing regimen, have you ever tested positive for any std's?  (And I realize that even if you haven't it doesn't prove anything, I'm just curious if it's a forgone conclusion that if you pursue this hobby very actively, are you destined to contract an std at some point?)

Also, where do you find the best place to get tested.  I have been a little apprehensive about asking my Doctor because my wife and I see the same Doctor and I don't want him to think I'm a total schmuck.  On the other hand I'm not exactly dying to line up at the free clinic either.

I have been very careful and fortunate as well. I have never tested posative for any std or any type of anything. I am mostly in the safe sex practices, and until I am secure and feel safe with someone, I don't go there.

Try AIM as they have many different types of testing available, anonymous, confidential, etc..etc... as well as different testing methods with different turn around times for results. It is also the only place an Adult Film Star can get a certificate showing the results, that is accepted by authorities and licensing entities, as well as all Directors, Preooducers, Agents and other film stars. They are very good at whhat they do, and very professiional The local clinic in your neiighborhood offers free HIV and STD testing. No questions about true ID, if you want it that way. AIM is not free, but not too expensive either. 45-140 per test depending on the turn around tiime and type of test requested.   Good luck and please get tested regularly. Low risk is still risk!

Paranoia runs deep, into your life it will creep.  EOM.

I didn't vote in that poll but it's every 3months for me. The local clinic in my neiighborhood do not offer free HIV and STD testing. When I first got tested for HIV/AIDS/STD I was told I had to the hospital to get the HIV & Syphilis test and wait 2wks for results, but  for TB, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, STD and others testing I could get it in the local clinic.

If anyone have any resources on any public health clinic that give free hiv and syphilis testing for free email me. I hate going to the hospital, setting there all dam day because they say it is a non emergency case.

Being in this business, your word do not speak for it self. I get sick and tire of getting im/email regarding no condom because i only sleep with my wife. I'm only into to finding someone i can trust. Personally I feel that no matter how safe we try to be our word can "not" speak for it self in this business or not in the business.

To anyone that think or say only people in this business need to be tested is full of shit. You don't impress me. People lie about sex, so who's fooling who. The people here don't hid what they do and I give them credit for honesty. The people that claim they don't do this or that is the one's we need to watch.

Everybody is a target...especially you wife, girlfriend and who ever the hell else we sleep with.  You will never know 100% who's fucking who.

Just my 2ct


-- Modified on 4/17/2002 6:23:44 AM

I get checked once a year, I get tested yearly at my scheduled pap test. No need for me to get checked more often as I have been monogamous for the past three years with only my partner.

Unless I have a open wound on my hand, chances are very low I'll be infected by a client!

If you work in any place of medicine, you will be tested (free) every 3 months.

(along with that great once a year TB scan)

I hope the providers who are dumb enough to let guys not wear condoms,  take note of the statistic.  I have sooo many men tell me, "I'm married,  I have never done this before,  or I know I am clean" trying to talk me out of condoms.  In college I learned that it is the ones who think they are safe who get the STD.  Some STDs do NOT have symptoms so you MUST get checked even if you feel fine.  There are free clinics all over LA.  I hope you men will understand why we insist on condoms.  Go get an HIV test, not even your spouse will know if you go to a private clinic!  Doctors are not dumb,  they understand the need for privacy.

Here is the LA STD free clinic and hotline #:800-758-0880
Now don't crowd the place!

Staff, please take note of the number and publish it in some place useful to our hobbyists on this board.  Thank you!

-- Modified on 4/17/2002 11:59:39 AM

Truer words never spoken.....

I would NEVER EVER EVER even REMOTELY thnk about sleeping with a client without protection if I was an ASP. There was a post on the NYC board some time ago from a guy who was asking what itow you meant that his ATF had offered him unprotected sex, under the guise of "bringing them closer". I told him it meant she was crazy, and if he accepted, it made him crazy AND a fool, because while she might have an agenda, whatever it is, he is just being an idiot. Believe it or not, there was a guy who disagree with me....going on about how you have to live life and trust is important and some otehr crap. He admitted to being older...maybe he was senile....

In any event...any man who sees an ASP is obviously NOT just sleeping with his wife. I don't even see why someone would even think about saying some dumb crap like that. And let's not even start on the sort of fool a guy must be to consider sleeping with an ASP without protection...risking his health and the health of his wife as well. This isn't a judgement of ASPs...it is just damn common sense...we are talking about someone who has sex with more (different) people in a month than the average person might have in a lifetime. We assume all those encounters were protected, but.....is it worth risking your health for....or WORSE, the health of an innocent 3rd party (the wife)?

Some guys ought to be just shot in the head...our planet would be better off without them....

It seems to me that it would be far better to ask your doctor to test you (if he has any level of professionalism at all, your appt's with him should be confidential, right?), then to accidentally take something silly like chlamidya or something home to the Mrs.  Rarely hobby doesn't mean "zero risk," and altho I have been very lucky and very very adamant in my testing and safe practices, I am very well aware that no matter what, all it takes is ONE TIME. Just something to think about!
Stay safe!
Hugs*
Nicole

I don't know you, or where you live, but I would say that MOST doctors (and I happen to know a couple) would STRONGLY recommend against sharing a physician with your spouse for EXACTLY these sorts of reasons.

Your medical history is very personal, and in theory should only be shared between yourself and your doctor. If you doctor were truly ethical, he would never divulge anything to your wife, and if he were truly professional, he would make no judgments of you.  While we’d like to think we can / should share everything with our spouses, the truth is that sharing with her that you HAVE an STD (which I CERTAINLY hope you would do) is not the same as sharing that you have decided to get tested. Assuming you have already walked down the path of reconciling your seeing ASPs despite being married, keeping this information privateer presents no ethical ambiguity whatsoever, and your doctor should feel the same way.

Moving a bit from theory to reality, you don’t have to tell your doctor WHY you want to be tested. He isn't your best friend (well maybe he is, but he isn't when he is treating you, and if he tends to forget that, refer to what I said about being "professional") he is your doctor. You think you are the first guy he has ever treated who might have stepped out on his wife? If anything, he should "admire" you for caring enough about your health (and hers) to want to make sure things are ok.

Back to the theoretical soapbox...unless you live someplace so rural that your doctor HAS to be shared with your spouse, for lack of viable options...OR unless you and your wife had been seeing your doctor for years prior to ever meeting each other, you should get your own physician. And I am surprised he hasn't told you (and her) as much.

they figure it's safe if they use condoms for some activities but nevermind about the other activities unprotected. look at pamela anderson lee total hottie probably 90% of guys here would have loved to do her. she just announced she's positive for hep c! you just never know from looking at someone.

is that everybody needs to wear condoms whether they are tested or not.  If one person doesn't care about their health and is willing to engage in unsafe sex, that is their issue but each person is responsible for their own behavior and there is no excuse for having unsafe sex just because the other partner wants it.

Unsafe sex is just plain stupid.   Especially when you have a wife/girlfriend.  If you catch gonorrhea or chlamydia, (a provider can unknowingly carry it in their mouth) and you infect the innocent party at home, then you have a done a really shitty thing and there is no amount of "I'm Sorry" that will compensate for that!   Its not the provider's responsibility either...its yours.

I have perfected the art (and it is an art) of the covered BJ and many clients had no idea they had a condom on!  Some even thought they came in mouth and when I pulled off the condom afterwards, they were in shock.  Lucky them they had one on!

Yeah and she says she probably got it from a tatoo needle.  Read this week's Newsweek.  Hep C is not easily passed via sex.

pretty unlikely in a licensed tattoo parlour, they are clean and sterilize needles. maybe they were using a needle for other purposes??

and all the links I read said it is mainly from blood but can be spread during unprotected sex. anyway, my point was you sure can't tell she's sick from looking at her so you just never know.

I wish we had a doctor or epidemilogist to post about this. I am neither.

However, I do know that there are very few (if any) medical tests that are perfect without false negatives and false positives.

The most recent estimate that I have seen is that the authorities think about 1% of the general population is HIV positive. I don't know what the rate of false positives is with the current HIV tests but if it is only 2% it would mean that the odds are 2 to 1 AGAINST being HIV positive when the test says that you are. (Look up conditional probability and Bayes Theorem if you don't want to take my word for it.)

I do know that a few years ago Kaiser would not test you for HIV unless you were in a high risk group because they felt that false positives made the HIV test a waste of time for screening. (If you have symptoms the issues are completely different, of course.)

OK, let us ignore false positives and assume that the test is perfect. How often is often enough to be tested in the absence of symptoms? (I agree that if you have symptoms you should stop having sex with anyone and run not walk to the nearest clinic.) You can catch something the day after you are tested. That gives you until the next test to give it to your SO or anyone else that you are having sex with. Even if you get tested every three months this means you might be spreading the STD for three months less one day. How safe is that?

The bordellos in Nevada used to require (and probably still do) that the women be tested for STDs weekly and HIV monthly. At least that gives us one data point. The Nevada Health Department thinks that weekly (monthly for HIV) is frequent enough to provide adequate protection against a serious spread of STDs.

However the probability that you will get something is not related to the passage of time. It is is related to the number of times that you have sex. I would guess that the average provider is having sex about ten to thirty times as often as the average client. (If the average provider didn't have sex any more often than I can afford to have sex as a client she would starve to death.) This probably means providers should be tested ten to thirty times as often as clients if we assume an equal responsibility to prevent the spread of STDs.

While I am feeling grumpy, I will say a few words about condoms also. HIV is found primarily in the blood and semen. It is only weakly present in other bodily fluids. This means that the issue of protection is quite different for women and straight men.

To be completely safe from HIV you should avoid all contact with the other person's bodily fluids. A full body head-to-toe condom would be good. However, for the guy, once you have engaged in DFK, gotten a BBBJ, done some DATY, and rubbed your privates against hers on the outside, putting on a condom for the final act only provides minimal additional protection. (I do not include anal, which is the most risky act of all for HIV. Anyone who does anal without a condom is extremely ignorant or has a death wish in my opinion.)

The client wants to avoid coming in contact with the provider's blood. The provider wants to avoid coming in contact with both the client's blood AND HIS SEMEN. She might be willing to risk a BBBJTC because the mouth is a pretty hostile environment for the virus (and the stomach is deadly -- as far as I know there is no viral disease that transmits through the lining of the stomach -- unfortunately, there are receptors for the HIV virus in the throat) but I can understand why no woman concerned with staying alive wants a client's semen inside her. With HIV out there, there is no good reason to run the risk.

My thoughts are obviously directed primarily toward HIV, which is the 800 pound gorilla at the party. Other STDs are pretty much the same as they were back in the 1970s and early 1980s when (at least in the legal bordellos in Nevada) nobody, and I mean nobody, used condoms. (Is there anyone else old enough to remember that far back?) Yes, condoms are helpful in preventing STDs but they are NOT a magic shield.

Nobody should take more risk than they feel is safe and I completely agree that if either partner feels more comfortable using a condom then a condom should be used. Furthermore, the lady's health is at greater risk if a condom is not used. Therefore, a gentleman should always respect the lady's wishes in this matter.


-- Modified on 4/17/2002 8:50:51 PM

for all my sessions, even though the only body fluid contact I have with clients is giving hjs!

Anyway, you are right on many counts although I think you are overestimating the amount of people infected in the U.S. Really, 1% would be a tremendously large number of people. I would like to see a link or reference for this stat if you have one.

Also, you made no mention of herpes in your post. Herpes seems to have fallen by the wayside due to the spectre of HIV but it is still a most uncomfortable and *permanent* problem.
The best site for HIV information on the internet IMO is www.aegis.org - they have a tremendous lot of current info.

Also, www.lukeford.com if you click on Subjects then chose A-E and locate the subject "AIDS" they have a few pages of info about testing in the porn industry and how it has changed and what the guidelines are now, which porn stars are positive, the different types of HIV tests (PCR-DNA is the industry standard, Elisa tests are given most often and are not as accurate - always ask which you are getting), and other interesting stuff.

I did some more searching and found an excellent article on HIV transmission that I had not previously seen. Highly recommended. See "Related Link" at the end of this post. (There is also a link in this article "Efficacy of condoms in preventing STDs" that is worth following.)

The article that I thought contained the reference to the 1% figure was http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020301.html which in the first paragraph refers to an article by Varghese et al. published in Sexually Transmitted Diseases, January 2002. However, I was wrong -- this column does not contain the figure. I may have seen the figure in another reference to this article or I may be completely wrong. Unfortunately, the article itself does not appear to be on the web and I can not find the other reference to the article that believe that I once had.

The CDC website has some statistics on http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats.htm#exposure. There it says that 40,000,000 people worldwide are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. This is about 2/3 of 1% worldwide. This estimate comes from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDs.

Through June of 2001 the CDC knew of 793,026 AIDs cases in the United States which they attribute 85,738 to hetrosexual contact. Since the population of the United States is curently about 287,000,000 the cumulative number of AIDs cases amounts to about 0.3% of the population. However, the number of actual AIDs cases must be significantly less than the number who are HIV positive.

There was also a study in Haiti of transmission between couples (http://www.niaid.nih.gov/newsroom/releases/haitihiv.htm) that indicates that the female to male transmission risk may be higher than I thought. However, this may be due to the presence of other STDs.

The article says, "The investigation observed a seroconversion rate of 1.0 per 100 person years for couples who always used a condom, and 6.8 per 100 person years for couples who used condoms irregularly or not at all. The seroconversion rates were similar between couples who never used condoms and those who used them irregularly, underscoring the importance of consistent, correct condom use." The reduction of risk by a factor of 6.8 is much less than the factor of 20 quoted in the study by Varghese et al.

I also find these rates to be surprisingly low. This says that if you have sex with a HIV positive person for a year and never use a condom that there is only a 6.8% chance of becoming infected with HIV. In the early years of AIDs I believe that the infection rate among gay males in San Franciso was about 10 times as high. Of course, gay males at that time may have been having a lot more sex than hetrosexual couples and almost certainly were doing a lot more anal intercourse than most hetrosexual couples.

NOTE: The direct link to NIAID does not work. I don't know why it doesn't. You can find the article by going to the NIAID website and searching the NEWSROOM for "Couples Study in Haiti". (Linkmeister, I need your help on this one! I can't link either to the article or the website itself from here.)

On the bright side masturbation -- even mutual masturbation -- seems to be completely safe in regard to both HIV and all other known STDs. (Just hope that the Spanish flu never comes back -- if it does we are in a world of hurt, condoms or no condoms.)



-- Modified on 4/18/2002 12:48:15 AM

From all info sources I have seen above, I always read that Latex condoms provide the most effective barrier..etc.. and greatly reduce the risk ... blurb. Even the ultimate authority couldn't afford to give a more precise account of condom use.

always wonder this puzzle: if the condom doesn't break, is safe sex safe?  

Answers like "It should be safe", "It greatly reduces risk" are not acceptable.

But think of it otherwise: if perfect condom use is even a tiny, tiny bit unsafe, many people should have died.. so apparently non-broken condom use is perfectly safe? Did anyone hear of a single case of Sex-related HIV infection with perfect condom use (with no breakage)? I emphasize: one single case means serious business to all of us here. Anybody heard of a real case like this? I haven't.. all the occurred cases are unprotected sex, drug use, gay sex, mom-to-child..

As you can see, I am a worrying guy -- to the extent that I keep laughing at myself. Being single and living in this country alone, I did visit ASP a few times; and whenever I did, I wear 2 condoms (Is it even safer? ). And after the "event", I keep worrying and refusing to get tested (do I need it when all sex had been safe?) .. I strongly feel more damage to myself psychologically than physically.. I even bought a home-test kit but never even wanted to open it.

** I think I am nut and wish some ASPs/hobbyist/doctor tell me how safe is sex when no condom ever breaks.. **

I also found some websites that questions the effectiveness of condoms (probably done by either the extremely religious fellows or the extreme paranoid, like the informed version of me..)
here they are:

http://www.prolife.com/CONDOMS.html
http://www.catholic-family.org/steve/kelly.html

they said there are holes in condoms! but it can't be true or else more than half of our population probably have been wiped out by now! I didn't have any means to verify the info of the above 2 sites.

another site even suggests "abstinence/masturbation is the only safe sex":

http://www.sextraps.com

Come on.. It is all too extreme for any normal man to take..

any corrective insights from you savvy hobbyists/professionals?

many thx for any clarifications..

"I have perfected the art (and it is an art) of the covered BJ and many clients had no idea they had a condom on!"

Of course, after reading this, I simply HAD to go to your site....and what do I see? Another LOVELY woman with a WOMANLY figure....

The sound you hear is me weeping like a baby....

I see why they call it a "hobby" now....since I have come this board I have "met" 5 "must see" providers...

Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Orlando, Palm Springs....now Los Angeles. Sigh... Ok....maybe I can use frequent flyer miles, versus waiting to stir up some business in those cities (the better to charge my travel expenses to a project). I might have enough miles...hey, can anybody tell me if LA and Palm Springs are driving distance??

Hi Math,

Thanks for the good info.  The problem with your NIAID link was that you need whitespace (like a blank or newline) after the link, otherwise the ending parenthesis becomes part of the link, which then fails. Here's the correct link.
Regards,
LM

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/newsroom/releases/haitihiv.htm

-- Modified on 4/18/2002 8:24:46 AM

Palm Springs and L.A. are very close indeed. All the Hollywood elite used to jet off to Palm Springs for weekends.

Palm Springs is a great place, I go there every summer. It is unfathomably hot (but it's a dry heat, lol), the air smells nice like sage and the night sky is beautiful and full of stars. I love the desert! And the rates are rock bottom after July 4th through labor day.

I believe that you can find support for any answer you want. Statistics can be done in such a way to support any conclusion one chooses to support. And if you keep looking long enough and hard enough you may even run into a group of real doctors and real nurses that swear a latex condom does not prevent hiv from spreading at all. They claimed that hiv can secrete through the pores of latex. Well I am sure that without using one, your chances of contracting hiv are greater. I am sure that safe sex should really be called safer sex, because the only truly safe sex is called masturbation. Now don't get me wrong. Masturbation is a wonderful thing, and has been said to be having sex with the person you love the most. Yourself. But I prefer to share my sexual experiences, and variety has been the spice of my life.

A regular check up is for you, your peace of mind, to catch any thing that may be going on early enough to get it treated in it's earliest stages, and to protect all of us that may see someone after you have.  It is a small world, and we share much more of ourselves with others than we will ever truly know. 'o 't least do ME a favor, and forget your phobia's, osis's and 'ism's etc... and get tested regulary. It's far better to know your health is good than guess.

How many of you would have PROTECTED sex with someone you know to have an STD??

catholic family league and prolife.org? of course they have an agenda. sex within the bounds of marriage with procreation as a goal.

I would read studies in peer reviewed journals to obtain my information if I were you.

What about DC????
I want a spanking TOO, yanno! (Just read your reviews!)
Or failing DC, what about Atlantic City the 28th thru the 2nd?
Hehe

Hugs*
Nicole

Do not, ever, wear two condoms at once.
You would THINK it would make you more protected... au contraire!  The friction of the two condoms rubbing against each other weakens latex and makes the liklihood of a break ocurring, MORE LIKELY... not less! It is NOT safer to wear two condoms, and lord knows it'll take you longer to finish up if you can't feel anything, again, increasing stress on that poor condom and the liklihood that both condoms will break.

HIV... you can only catch HIV if body fluids such as semen or blood get into your body. So even if your condom did break, hey the odds of you catching HIV from a woman are LOW. Not nonexistant, but low... and catching HIV with a condom on are nill, or 99% effective or whatever. I can't imagine how you could get it if the condom doesn't break, anyways.

You do need to calm down... read some facts... and GET TESTED.  The last thing in the world that you'd want is to not find out you have something until you settle down and get married and give your WIFE, HIV.  OK, so you say with ASP's you have always used condoms and they've never broken... that is GREAT. But have you always, your entire life, every single time, used a condom, and never had one break? ALWAYS????

This is my favorite link about HIV... check it out!
http://www.sfaf.org/aids101/

Stay safe
Nicole

There's no such thing as safe sex, except masturbation.

*sigh*
That said, who the hell wants to live that way?
I could go outside and get hit by a bus, too.
Condoms reduce the odds by what, 99%?  
Condoms DO break... but most of the time they do NOT.  And I am certainly not going to hide in a bubble and live my life in fear. Instead I'm going to protect myself as best I can. Your point is well taken, but what do you want people to say? Ok I'll never have sex with anyone??? It ain't gonna happen honey.

Hugs*
Nicole

http://www.stopaids.ch/e/playandwin.html

and I have never had a condom break since using a little lube on the inside of the condom...just a few drops will do...and you will be jammin'!  Don't forget to rub a little on the outside of the condom before penetration.  Its the friction that causes breakage.  And don't leave condoms
in the sun either as they can weaken them.  


I am providing a link to my favorite Condom store.  I recommend Crown.  And for those who need a little more room...I reccomend Magnum XL.

But don't forget to add a couple of drops of  lube to the inside tip before applying.

I just didn't like the attitude that "there's no such thing as safe sex," well it's true in it's own way... everything carries risk, but we do what we can to minimize the risk and practice safER sex, as you said!  I *refuse* to live in a bubble!

I like crown, I also like Kimono's, and Trojan Pleasure Mesh... You should see my cart at WalMart when I go condom shopping, I have NO idea what the checkout girls must think. Hehe!

Hugs*
Nicole