I'd extend it to the cult of parenthood in general. But I do agree that there is an extra-emphasis on how selfless and loving mothers are when we know that half the human population is not Mother Teresa.

A lot of people are really careless with sharing drinks and it's better in general not to regardless of people's STD status. You don't want to get a cold or the flu either! So don't feel weird about it.

Cold sores around your lips are Herpes HSV-1. The shingles and Chicken Pox virus is related to herpes but it's not Herpes HSV-1 or HSV-2. I would refrain from drinking out of the same glass (because people can have sores or cuts in their mouths and not know it and you could, too, increasing risk for infection - but…

You're not going to get herpes from a toilet seat, if that's what you are worried about. When you say regular herpes, do you mean oral herpes like cold sores? Because that is HSV-1 and due to it's commonality in the population it was not seen as an STD. HSV-2 is what is commonly thought of as the STD. However, there…

Yeah, Kinja got me. The link should be there now.

From the CDC:

I'm glad you didn't respond angrily- I used to talk about STIs in the same way and hadn't thought about it until my friend was crying to me about being "dirty and soiled" and that no one would ever want a relationship with her again! It made me really sad to think that people would see her that way. So now I try to be…

We're both clean.

True and a good addendum! But it's pretty easy to avoid these problems as long as you know they are problems! I feel like a lot of the anti-condom rhetoric I hear is based in the idea that people are incapable of learning these things and then following through with the correct actions.

I don't think it's limited to young people, but it is shocking for me because of the type of comprehensive sex-ed I received when I was 10, 13-18 which had a lot to do with what happened in the 80s and early 90s. Anyway, I know plenty of women who are just as irresponsible as men, so it's not limited to gender in my…

I don't think that sex should be scary or shameful for people. My concern is that people are really bad at assessing risk as it is and now we're removing any notion of risk from the term for the behavior. Another commentor, CatHullabaloo, on this thread said it much better than I did. It just seems to muddy the waters…

I think you said this better than I did.

If you don't pinch the air our of the resevoir tip before you roll it on, it's more likely to break because it's filled with air and will have more pressure on it when the man cums. You can also nick it with your fingernails it you aren't careful. Yeah, it's not that complicated, but when I talk to young people (20…

No, they don't use the term "condomless sex" because it is new. What I'm saying is that right now if they have sex without a condom it is called unprotected sex. Just because they enter into a monogamous relationship doesn't suddenly change that they have no idea the status of their sexual health. So why should they…

I understand this but my problem is that a lot of people think that because they are having sex with people they know (a friend for instance) and that person doesn't appear to be promiscuous they are falsely assuming that it's safer to have unprotected sex when it's not really. I know many people who have never been…

After all, would you describe two people in a monogamous, long-term relationship who've tested negative for STDs as engaging in "unprotected sex?"

Burke was terrible when she was the host of the E! trravel show which was basically her in different bikinis at stunning beaches around the world. She's got zero personality on screen.

I wouldn't call it a scandal because it implies her willing participation and she was actually the victim of a disturbing crime. Some creep illegally filmed her and stalked her. There was a criminal trial and the creep was convicted: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/erin-an…

I think we can forgive in terms of accepting them as they are and accepting the past as it was and moving forward. But that doesn't mean having to let them back into our lives. I like the idea of radical acceptance - knowing you can't change someone or a situation and being at peace with that. For me, dwelling too…

Mine, too! Sex orgies and drama!