When Cassidy (name changed), a Carleton student, attended SnowJam in 2013—a popular winter break trip for post-secondary students—in Mont-Tremblant, Que., she met a tall, bearded, brown-haired stranger she wanted to have sex with.
“We were about to have sex, and he was like, ‘Oh, I don’t have a condom,’ and I was like, ‘Are you serious?’” Cassidy said.
Cassidy said she didn’t have a condom, either.
“But I really wanted to have sex . . . so I was like, ‘Clean? You’re good, right?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.’ We had sex, and he left right after,” Cassidy said.
Two weeks later, Cassidy received a call from Public Health Ontario. They told her that a recent partner of hers had an STI, and that she should get tested as soon as possible.
Cassidy later tested positive for chlamydia.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are most common in young adults. In Canada, the Public Health Agency says some of the highest rates and increases in STIs are among people aged 15 to 29.
The agency reports chlamydia and gonorrhea rates have increased over the past decade, and are most common in young people. Eighty per cent of chlamydia cases and 70 per cent of gonorrhea cases are found in Canadians aged 15 to 29. Instances of drug-resistant strains add to medical practitioners’ concerns.
Robin Milhausen, sexologist and professor at the University of Guelph, said part of the increase in reported STIs may be due to better and more frequent testing, “but they’re higher than we would like, and they’re common, very common among young people,” she said.
Many would believe university students are well-informed, but a recent survey by Trojan and the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) found there was a large discrepancy between how much students think they know about sexual health and how much they actually know.
Despite 62 per cent of the students rating their sexual health knowledge as “excellent” or “very good,” three-quarters scored five out of 10 or lower on a sexual health quiz.
Fifty-six per cent of respondents said they weren’t concerned about contracting an STI, and nearly half of them said they do not use condoms and that they are “unlikely” to use any protection during oral sex.
Condoms: just use them
The classic defence for not using a condom has been that using one simply doesn’t feel as good as barrier-free skin-on-skin contact, but a recent study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine claims that this isn’t true.
More than 5,000 participants aged 18 to 59 were surveyed. Results indicated that sexual arousal, pleasure, and orgasms were not significantly affected by condom use.
Milhausen said she recommends individuals try different brands and pick ones they like instead of giving up on condoms immediately.
She said water-based lubricant–which won’t break down latex–can be applied in the inner tip of the condom and outside it. The lubricant will enhance pleasure and reduce the risk of cuts and abrasions that spread STIs.
Kinga Charbot, supervisor of Ottawa Public Health’s Healthy Sexuality and Risk Reduction Program, said dental dams or plastic kitchen wrap can be used as protection during oral sex. She also suggested using a condom cut lengthwise as a barrier.
Charley Wang, a fourth-year student at the University of Ottawa, said “it’s kind of a mood killer” to have a conversation about STIs before sex.
He said he would use condoms if he were having sex with someone he just met, but might consider ditching them in certain circumstances.
“If I know them well enough and I know their personality, like they don’t sleep around like crazy, [I wouldn’t use a condom],” Wang said.
According to Ottawa Public Health, not using protection is the top risk factor among individuals with an STI, as opposed to having multiple partners or substance abuse.
STIs can affect anyone
“A lot of people are still going by the idea that if their partner had an STI, they would be able to tell, or they can somehow magically pick out people who are more likely to have an STI,” said Alex McKay, research coordinator at SIECCAN.
McKay said young people don’t know how common STIs are and most cases are asymptomatic, so there is no way of knowing someone is STI-free until they have been tested.
“As a result, a lot of people including many university students believe that they are immune to STIs, when in fact they are at high risk,” McKay said.
Another study by the sex education council found that young people are generally aware of the risks of unprotected sex, but tend to believe their personal circumstances lower their risk.
“Some clients come in with certain assumptions, like if they’re in a monogamous relationship or have only had several monogamous relationships, that they’re safe,” Charbot said.
“But they may never have gotten testing at any time, so here they are, spreading that. They’re also less likely to use condoms,” Charbot said.
Milhausen said she worries more about young adults who have “friends with benefits” relationships or serial monogamy than people who have “booty calls or one-night stands.” This is because people are more likely to get tested after being with multiple and unfamiliar partners.
“There’s a lot of trust and intimacy already built up . . . ‘Oh, we know each other, I know this person really well, they’re safe. They wouldn’t have an infection.’ This can contribute to a spread of STIs,” Milhausen said.
Graphic images of STI cases “shame and stigmatize people with STIs . . . and give people unrealistic ideas about what they should be looking for in terms of symptoms,” so they should not be included in sex education, Milhausen said.
“Unfortunately, there’s still a real stigma around STIs, and when there’s stigma, people don’t get educated,” said Patty Allen, Carleton’s health educator.
Cassidy said she wanted to use a different name because she has not told many people she had an STI, and said she fears the stigma if more people knew.
How getting tested can help
Allen said individuals having unprotected sex must “take responsibility” by getting tested regularly and seeking treatment for infections.
She said people might be dissuaded because they have “horrifying” ideas about what the testing process actually entails.
Swabs or urine samples are used to detect chlamydia and gonorrhea in men and women. Most other common STIs can be detected with a blood sample. Tests of cell samples taken from the cervix can check for cancer and HPV in women. There is no approved HPV test for men.
Cassidy said she felt like she was being punished for her actions. Luckily, a single pill cured her infection.
“I knew that I’d been doing something wrong as I was doing it, so I think that it felt a lot worse when it turned out to be like, one, you didn’t even have a good time, and now this,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy said she shared her story to warn that anyone having unprotected sex could get an STI.
“Nothing wrong with enjoying sex and being [sexually] active, as long as you’re safe about it,” Cassidy said. “Because you can get worse than what I got.”
