Sexual relations are difficult. Telling someone how you feel is nerve-wracking. Breaking up with someone is hard. Trying to talk to someone about what you want in the sack is stressful.  But nothing beats the awkwardness that you might have just given a sexy time friend an STD. Even if you desperately want to ignore that partner, you can’t ignore the problem. Thanks to inSPOT.org, the non-profit Hallmark for STD’s, you can avoid the uncomfortable phone call and simply send the ones you’ve loved free e-cards to notify them of the situation.  They’ve got cheeky postcard slogans like “You’re too hot to be out of action.”  All you have to do is select a message about what’s making you catchier than a pop song and you can even notify them of places to get tested in their neighborhood. Best of all, you can send these e-cards anonymously! So, remember, just because you like to spread your legs, it doesn’t mean you have to be embarrassed when you hit a bump. Just be sure to pass the information along!

This Pill, which started the sexual revolution by preventing pregnancy, has also been accused of casting a curse on libido. A couple of the women interviewed for Time Out New York’s Sex Issue made it sound like the pill is damaging to their sexual desire and ruined their physical need to be ravaged.  It’s ironic that the thing that makes women able to engage in slightly more carefree sex is also conversely making them chaste, eh?  One of the women, referred to as “Ditched The Pill,”, who had been struggling with her lack of interest in having sex with her boyfriend, noted, “When I went off it, my libido skyrocketed; suddenly it was easy again.”  Is the pill that powerful?

You can get anything from the Internet, even an STD! RevengeCrabs.com is a site dedicated to selling spurned lovers genital lice, otherwise known as crabs.  If you thought your breakup fight had bite, it’s got nothing on what these lil’ buggers can do once they start snapping at a crotch. The eggs are so cheap and easy to purchase and use, this “settling the score” is sadistic like nothing else we’ve ever seen! And the mad scientists behind this lab have already expanded their line of lice to include shampoo resistant super crabs, bedbugs, and are even working on developing chlamydia and the clap for consumer use. But what could drive someone to go to this kind of extreme, let alone develop a business plan?  These CEO frat bros claim they all got crabs back in college by the same woman and now they want revenge on the world. Even scarier, they promise this kind of payback is totally legal. Right…. Oh yeah, and just to add that extra creep factor, they offer school children tours of their facilities.  We’re itchy just thinking about these buggin’ business dirt bags. [Trend Hunter]

Do you have a license to lay? Brooklyn-based STF(ree) is making private issued cards so your potential lovers can check the results of your last two AIDS/HIV tests. No lying, no guessing, no putting off the inevitable. All you have to do is fill out their enrollment form and ask your doctor to send your lab results to STF. Then you’ll be issued an ID card. Using your personal number on the card and a private password you provide, people you’ve selected can call up the information line 24/7 and find out the truth about the party in your pants. It’s a small price to pay for some piece of mind to go with that piece of ass! Maybe this would come in handy if they ever legalize prostitution... [Via Boinkology]

The CDC has confirmed that a cure for both oral and genital herpes is in the works. Hooray!  An estimated 100 million Americans have the oral herp, while 20% have the kind below the belt. There is a tiny bit of bad news, though. The new treatment being studied would force on one last outbreak, but then kill it forever with antiviral drugs already on the market. A team at Duke University has been leading the way and partnered up with Regulus Therapeutics LLC to make it happen. While they’re all optimistic, the researchers say the next step is testing out their theory on animals. Will monkeys finally make monkey business a little more safe? Let’s hope! [MSNBC via Regina Lynn]

So you know all those people having unprotected sex with multiple partners? Maybe it’s your MOM! Or your Grandpa! Researchers at England’s West Midlands Health Protection Agency found that over the last 10 years, STD rates had more than doubled among people ages 45 and older. Hey, Granny Goose, just ‘cause you went through “the change” doesn’t mean you don’t need to strap one on when you get frisky with Mr. Hooper in the Senior Center activities room. [Time]

While sticking a bunch of microbicides up your hoo-ha may seem like a bad idea, turns out it may save your vaj from the likes of HIV and other STD’s.  Researchers are currently conducting clinical trials at UCLA’s AIDS Institute for microbicides, a shield you would schmear in your vajane.  Nowadays, women must rely on making sure their male sexual partners use condoms, but the hope is that this type of safeguard will help ladies take matters into their own hands. The study in the U.S. is based on the larger 12-month trial of microbicides involving 10,000 people currently underway in South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda and Belgium. Fingers crossed we girls can get some protection! [Newswise]

What with all the promiscuous sex the U.S. is having without condoms, we’re curious about how often you get tested for sexually transmitted diseases/infections. I will start: I last got tested, like, three years ago because I’ve been in a committed relationship for a lonnnng time, but prior to the man-friend I got tested every year. Now, take our poll!

So, you know that story we’ve been chatting about lately? The one about how one in four New Yorkers with multiple partners (potentially a reflection of the rest of the country) doesn’t use condoms all the time? Well in addition to our poll(s) on the subject, I decided I wanted to pester the guys on my IM about this because I think it’s kind of easy to say to blame dudes for low condom usage—after all, they’re the ones who have to strap ‘em on either at their own discretion or because the chick they’re having sex with makes them in order to get any nookie. So do dudes leap at any opportunity to go rubber-less? Let’s find out.

Remember that poll we conducted about how often you use condoms? Well the result are in, and a whopping 46% of you don’t use condoms EVER. We were curious and wanted more info, so for those of you that don’t use condoms, please, oh please, tell us why.

Young people don’t always do act with the hormones as opposed to their brain, and a study by the New York City health department is evidence. Apparently 40 percent of New Yorkers with multiple sex partners didn’t use a condom the last time they had sex, according to a poll of 10,000 adults in the city. This in a city where bowls full of condoms are readily available at many bars and clubs. Perhaps that’s why one in four adults in NYC have the virus that causes genital herpes. The only good news is that most young adults (those under 45) with more than one sex partner use condoms, the older folks are another story. Hooray for safe sex! [AM New York]

Playing a video on the prevention of HIV and other STDs for people while they’re waiting to be seen in an STD clinic can reduce the likelihood that they’ll get such an infection. In a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of more than 38,600 people, and the rate of STIs was under five percent for those who saw the video, while it was nearly six percent for those who hadn’t. Guys seemed most influenced (they are supposed to be very visual learners, aren’t they?), and were 13 percent less likely to develop an infection if they’d seen the video. Perhaps this worked because, unlike health class, where you can fall asleep or take the hall pass and wander around, these people were in STD clinics and were probably quite nervous about being tested and whatnot. Plus, the magazines in waiting rooms are generally crap and 16 months old. [Ivanhoe]

Since the sexual revolution, it’s been hard for us modern gals to remember that our below the belt business is also for baby-making.  STD’s and UTI’s are always a risk, but sadly, these party favors from sexual favors have been linked to birth defects.  Just when you thought they were bad enough to handle on your own, a new study has found they quadruple your baby’s chances of being born with a birth defect known as gastroschisis. While the name of the disorder is hard to pronounce, the complications are convoluted too—gastrochisis causes the baby’s intestines and other organs to be born outside the abdomen. States like Utah have experienced a tenfold increase in cases over the past 30 years and they blame it on the rise of STD and UTI infections.

Condoms, the wonder rubbers, keep the sex safe like a superhero protecting a city. But there’s such a thing as condom Kryptonite. Before you get scared of imminent doom in the bedroom, here are six tips to stop your condoms from being rendered powerless.

1. When you’re cookin’ in the bedroom, never use oil-based lubricants like vegetable shortening, cold cream, or Vaseline. In addition to being a bit greasy, they can actually damage the latex. Only use water or silicone based lubricants and slip slide away!

When your stiff doctor with cold hands and a lab coat asks you about your sex life, it’s hard to ‘fess up to all the craziness. After all, you don’t necessarily want every single one of your cooter’s conquests be on your permanent record.  But a new study has shown that even though it’s easily cured with antibiotics, cases of Chlamydia are on the rise and it’s all our fault.  When you fudge your numbers to your GP, you may think it’s a harmless white lie, but it actually affects how you’re treated.  Docs only screen for Chlamydia if they think the patient is possibly at risk because they’ve had multiple partners.  Now you may argue you don’t have any symptoms to speak of, but 70-to-75% of Chlamydia cases are asymptomatic. So while you think you may know, you could have no idea. [About.com]

At first glance, Pam Stenzel seems like a pretty good sex educator. As Feministing pointed out, she’s got the cool, hip aunt vibe down pat, making her seem approachable to the average kid curious about sex and protection. Too bad she manages to slip in all sort of scary lies into her lectures, like the fact that “no one has ever had more than one partner and not paid”, girls develop anorexia and bulimia “because of an abortion they couldn’t take back”, and that birth control pills and shots make her “ten times more likely to contract a disease than if she were not taken those drugs, sterile, or dead.” We’re frightened for the audience of teens sitting in front of her, in rapt attention. [Feministing]

After all the time and energy we devoted to STD Awareness Month, which we bid a fond farewell today, how much did you really learn about sexually transmitted diseases? We sent Lori out to quiz people on the street about their knowledge of infections.

1. Chlamydia is really common, but I don’t think anyone I know has told me they’ve had it. But they must have told someone, because Chlamydia is the most frequently reported STD in the US. In 2006, there were over a million reported cases. Eww. Teenagers and young women are more susceptible to infection because the cervix has not fully matured and gets infections more easily. Careful out there, Hannah Montana!

I’ve already told you I’ve had HPV. I’ve managed to steer clear of any other STIs, but I know many people who have had herpes, crabs, gonorrhea, or chlamydia. What about you? Take our poll—don’t worry, all results are of course anonymous.