By Sarah Murnane
As Halloween swiftly approaches, I think there is only one topic scary enough for an article: sexually transmitted diseases.
In a young person’s life, there is only one thing that unites us all; the fear of contracting an STD. Traditionally, pop culture would lead us to believe this burden is the pregnancy scare. Normally I would agree with you. Any woman will know that since the beginning of your first period alongside entering your teenage years you become filled with the fear of getting pregnant. In my secondary school this was made extremely clear. Our sex education was delivered, as it should be, by a priest. He explained to a room of thirteen year old girls that if you were to get pregnant before marriage you would, in fact, probably, die. As far as I can remember anyway. This sticks with you. To this day I even have homosexual friends who are scared that they will get pregnant.
But the problem with the pregnancy scare is that it only applies to those of us with vaginas, who have sex with people with penises. It cannot send fear through the hearts of everyone at once. It is not all-encompassing. This is where STD’s fill the hole. No one is safe.
The history of sexually transmitted diseases is extensive and tragic. There is some evidence dating back to the time of Ancient Greece that details a condition similar to gonorrhoea. However, the first official documentation of an STD was an outbreak of syphilis in 1494 amongst French troops in Naples. The disease was brutal at the time and killed an estimated five million people. The French know how to do it right. Once French soldiers returned to France the disease evolved and became commonplace throughout French brothels. Specifically in a Parisian district known as “Le Clapiers”. This is where the phrase “the clap” originated. I bet you thought you wouldn’t learn something new today.
From these grim beginnings STD’s went on to ravage through our societies. Notably in our parents’ generation with the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. This particular outbreak was characterised by the media as perpetrated by male gay “promiscuous” behaviour. It is difficult to understand how much the AIDS crisis affected views on sex and homosexuality. The claims made that AIDS was a ‘gay’ disease spread misinformation, not only about the condition itself but about the gay community. These societal labels stick. We often consider it terribly old fashioned to look down upon having lots of sex with lots of different people. But a whole generation watched their friends and families die of this terrible disease. It is pervasive, ingrained into a social psyche across all spectrums. When we discuss sex in the modern world we are rarely considering these kinds of consequences.
Thankfully, most sexual diseases have cures or treatments today. Getting an STD is no longer the end of the world, although that is no reason to throw caution to the wind. I am a big advocate for sexual exploration and promiscuous behaviour across all spectrums, but for god’s sake people wear a condom. Even now though with all our modern medicine, there is a significant amount of shame about getting an STD. People feel there is something dirty about it. How many times have you heard someone say “Oh I would never judge anyone… but personally I would die if I got one”? I have sympathy with this. No one wants an STD, but there is an underlying judgement here. That there is a particular type that contracts an STD. We are fighting a strongly ingrained social fear that does not go away overnight. The point here is, be careful, but have some fun. It isn’t the end of the world.
As I researched this article I found inspiration in the life of Olive Thomas, an American silent film actress in the early 1900s. Thomas won “Most Beautiful girl in New York City” in 1914 and from there her acting career eventually blossomed. She was held at intense public scrutiny, especially around her love life. Thomas married Jack Pickford, another actor, in 1916 and they had a tumultuous relationship. Thomas’ life came to an end one night on a vacation with her husband. Without realising Thomas ingested Pickfords syphilis medication. Syphilis medication in the 1900s contained mercury bichloride, and Thomas died five days later.
The moral of this story is firstly, don’t take pills without asking someone what they are first. Secondly, sometimes even the medicine will kill you, so you might as well live a little. But please, wear a condom.