Living in
America with an STI
By: Ashley
Hardy
When people think about someone having an STI most people
assume that it was due to unsafe sex or being promiscuous. However people tend
to forget that some sexual transmitted infections are passed down by birth.
These people have to live their entire lives with a disease that they did not
ask for. As of now there are about 27 different STI’s known in the world (1).
Some of them, such as herpes, are not necessarily passed just by intercourse
but can be passed by a woman who has the disease but gave birth to a child
vaginally. So just because someone has an STI, doesn’t mean they’re
promiscuous, because they could be a virgin still.
STI’s were known of back in the Colonial days. Back then
people believed that STI’s came from having sex with animals. They also thought
that women and prostitutes were the ones carrying and transferring the diseases
to people. Some men thought that having sex with virgins was a way to get rid
of the infection. They had other treatment options as well though. For Syphilis they used a mixture of metals
that were inserted into the body. They also tried bleeding through leeches and
inserting mercury into the body (2). So basically having an STI in Colonial
days was dangerous. The treatment options made living with an STI even more
difficult and more likely to not survive too long with one.
More than 65 million people in America have an STI (3). But
people are living much longer healthier lives despite their illness. However,
it is sometimes difficult for those who are or were infected to return to
normal everyday life. In a blog written by a girl who was diagnosed with
Chlamydia she describes how adjusting was difficult for her. She told her
significant other about the STI. At first he was very happy that she was honest
but later he didn’t want anything to do with her. She felt like she was being
judged by him and refrained from telling her friends in fear of being judged by
them also (4). Her basic point was yeah Chlamydia is cured by taking pills but
that doesn’t cure the judgment that followed her afterwards. So although there
is medicine available to cure STI’s that are bacterial, it can still impact
your life even though you may can still function like you did before the infection.
So what about the STI’s that are not curable such as HIV/AIDS
and Herpes? According to AidsMeds.com, HIV/AID victims who live past 60 are
having longer life expectancies than normal people because of medical advances
and the constant monitoring if the disease (5). Although life is tougher for
those with incurable viral STI’s, they can live better lives now then years
ago. The issue is the stereotypes and judgments that befall them. America has
come a long way in improving and preventing STI’s but what’s the purpose if the
stigma is still there? In Colonial America life was hard with an STI simply
because the treatment options were horrible and dangerous. Now that we have
treatments that help prevent, treat, and manage STI’s we are still living the
judgmental life. Americans should take STI’s with a grain of salt and not judge
victims based on their disease because you never know what their situation is
like. They go through enough as it is.
(1)
Medical Institute for Sexual Health. "How
many STIs are there and what are their names?." Accessed February 16,
2014. https://www.medinstitute.org/faqs/how-many-stis-are-there-and-what-are-their-names/
(5)
AidsMeds. "An Almost Normal Life Expectancy
for People With HIV?." Accessed February 17, 2014. http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/AM_Life_Expectancy_1667_23202.shtml.
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