Why Sexual Hygiene Is Important - A Short Story

As she stood to give her story, she had mixed feelings of anxiety and a dose of confidence plus accomplishment for having to share her story. This is an opportunity she had hoped for but had procrastinated for some time until now.

She had taken this opportunity to share her story with the audience at a closed sexual Health Campaign. 

“I came here to share with you my story”, she started. “ I started as a dirty girl or nonchalant rather, to be less pronounced” she corrected herself with a chuckle.

“I have learned sexual hygiene the hard way. I used to accord less care to hygiene as it relates to sexual health. I could use underwear for as long as three days without changing it even when I needed to. It became a hard bad habit to change even when I learned about STIs later on. I have had infections a few times but refused to get medical care because I thought it was something I could get rid of with some antibiotics I could easily get over the counter. I regretted my decision when I had a high fever for about a week and I couldn't go out anywhere. My mom took me to the hospital and that was where I learned about STIs and how to prevent them from the doctor that attended to me.

I was asked if I was having safe sex and how I clean up after sex if at all I do. Of course, I was having safe sex but with different partners and I hardly cleaned up after sex. The doctor explained to me how the job of having safe sex was not completed until where I had sex and my body was clean after every sexual encounter. 

How naive I had been” she said with a sigh. 

“Well that day I knew the difference between Urinary tract infections and Sexually transmitted infections” she continued. “I clean myself up every time after having safe sex, and I clean up my bedding and anywhere that might have been contaminated with discharges. I wash and dry clean my underwear and change them as often as possible. I make sure my sex partners also wash themselves and clean up after sex too.”