Things Men Got Away With In The Past That Are Not OK In The Present

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Making a fuss about showing STD results

The CDC recommends that all sexually active women under the age of 25 get tested every year, as well as women over that age with multiple sexual partners (we won’t even discuss the fact that the onus falls entirely on women under those guidelines…). Are you keeping up with that testing? Are your sexual partners being tested regularly? If you’re like a lot of women, you may have learned something early on: men don’t like being asked if they’ve been tested. They certainly don’t like being asked to go get tested or to show their test results. A lot of them will be insulted, will accuse you of not trusting them, and will even accuse you of suggesting they’re dirty, all because you asked for proof that they don’t have a sexually transmitted disease before engaging in intercourse. I encountered a handful of men like that in my early twenties. I was smart enough to think their reaction and accusations were manipulative, but I didn’t yet have the sensibility to realize they were bad guys. A good man will do whatever it takes to A) protect the health of the woman who sleeps with him and B) make her feel comfortable that her health is not at risk. Those are the priorities of a good man – not to get out of using a condom or getting tested because he “doesn’t feel like it.”