Before I go further, please encourage all women to meet with a female gynecologist regularly and do a PAP smear once a year.

Okay, so yesterday I was speaking to a friend who told me about his friend who caught herpes. The girl was having a lot of casual sex but once she decided to get serious with one guy, he gave her herpes.

Last year, I met this guy on Tinder, we both wanted to hookup and I asked him when he last got tested and he said he's never been tested. It was an instant NO from my end. We texted each other occasionally and in March he told me that it burned when he peed, I kept telling him to go get tested and he refused. In August he messaged me that he had tested positive for chlamydia. He had slept with 20 women b/w March and August.

Anyhow, STDs are a lot more common than we think and herpes and AIDs are permanent, undetected STDs such as chlamydia can cause major reproductive health issues for women.

Men have an unusually high habit of not getting tested and even if they are positive for an STD they will likely about it. Also, condoms don't always protect against STDs.

So yes, planning on sleeping with a guy? Ask him when he last got tested and see if he has his result handy. If he says, "I don't get tested" "I always have safe sex" "You don't have to worry" - RUN FAR AWAY - This is a BIG red flag.

If you're planning on having sex, sleep with a man who cares about not only his health but also that of his sexual partner.

I always vet men like this, if they don't have a recent test (usually 1 month with less than 2 partners b/w them getting tested and potentially sleeping with me) - I don't do it. Not once have I regretted this decision, my health is in my hands.