Antivian Informs
This tumblr is dedicated to putting interesting information and posts onto your dashboard about GLBTQ, Feminism, Racism, Body Image, Sex Education, Abortion, Slut-shaming, and Human Rights.
Americans are a step closer to being able to quickly determine in the privacy of their own homes whether they’re infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Tuesday voted 17-0 in favor of approving the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test, which produces results within 20 minutes of a quick swab along the gum line. A positive test result still must be confirmed with a traditional blood test performed in a laboratory.
The FDA, which isn’t bound by the recommendations of its advisory panels, is expected to make a final decision about the home test this year. A thumbs-up for the over-the-counter test kit from OraSure Technologies Inc., of Bethlehem, Pa., has the potential to reduce the number of people who unknowingly spread the virus because they’re unaware they’re infected. An estimated quarter million Americans are HIV-positive, but haven’t been tested. Each year, about 50,000 Americans become infected.
The FDA has estimated that 2.8 million people might test themselves in the first year after over-the-counter test becomes available. FDA projected that the test could pick up 45,000 infections that otherwise would have remained undetected, while missing 3,800 infections, based upon the test’s 93 percent rate of correctly identifying infections in clinical trials. In addition, the agency estimated that by identifying 45,000 HIV-positive people, the test could prevent them from unwittingly transmitting it to another 4,000 people.
“This is a big step forward for HIV prevention. Anything that encourages people to get tested is a good thing,” said Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News chief health and medical editor, and a former acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Twenty percent of Americans with HIV don’t even know it. It’s hard to prevent the spread if you don’t even know you’re infected. HIV is now a treatable as well as preventable disease.”
Besser said it’s important that anyone who gets tested, whether at home or in a doctor’s office , “is connected to support services.”
Answer:
What IS there to be embarrassed about? Sex is natural and a big part of our cultures and lifestyles. There’s no reason as to why discussing sex should be taboo. If talking about it improves someone’s sex life, makes people happier, prevents unwanted pregnancies and the spread of disease then I’m all for it.
Ultimately, my goal is to offer a judgement-free, sexually positive outlook and information on something that many people have misconceptions on.
The Early to Bed Awards for Best Lubes!
Best Lube for Sensitive Skin: Sliquid H2O. With only four ingredients, it is our simplest, most hypoallergenic lube. It is gentle, glycerin and paraben-free, super long-lasting, odorless, and tasteless! What’s not to love?
Best Anal Lube: Maximus! Some people swear by silicone lubes, but we love Maximus for its crazy thickness, which provides your butt with a cushion against injury. It is also long-lasting, even for a water-based lube!
Best Flavored Lube: Swede Fruity Love! It comes in subtle Blueberry and Vanilla Cinnamon flavors. It adds a nice accent of sweetness without being too cloying. Very long-lasting, this flavored lube is also pH-balanced (and paraben-free) so as to be gentle on even the most sensitive bits.
Best Waterproof Lube: Uberlube! Hands down, silicone is the funnest. This silicone lube latex compatible and just will not quit! Use it in the bedroom or in the bath, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Just keep it away from those silicone toys, okay? Uberlube is even made locally here in Chicago! Please note that we do not recommend using any Silicone lubes with silicone or cyberskin toys.
Best Organic Vegan Lube: Sliquid Organics. Want to treat your naughty bits AND the planet well? Try Sliquid Organics! Choose between Regular (100% water-based), Silk (mostly water-based but with 12% silicone to make it slipperier) and Sensation (warms up with friction), all with an added boost of organic hibiscus, flax, rose, and sunflower seed extracts.
Best All-Around Lube: It’s a tie! Slippery Stuff and Liquid Silk both win the prize! Both are glycerin-free and long-lasting. Slippery Stuff is a nice thick gel that stays where you want it and is easy on the wallet. Liquid Silk has a luxurious silky texture that never gets sticky.
There are no losers here, so if you just can’t decide, try one of our lube samplers and you get a little taste of our favorites!
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — California has just adopted its first ever standard for what students should be learning about sexual education.
This comes just days after an alarming study came out on American teenagers and sexually transmitted diseases. That federal study found one in four teenager girls has at least one sexually transmitted disease. Parents are asking when should children learn about sex education? How young is too young?
The California State Board of Education has decided that students as young as fifth graders should learn about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.
Four years ago, state legislators passed a law requiring sex education to be “medically accurate, objective and respectful of gay and lesbian youth.” Up to now, teachers lack the standards to comply with the law. Advocates say the new standards will not only present important information, but teach California’s more than 6 million students the skills necessary to practice safe behavior.
The new guidelines spell it out; fifth graders will learn about STDs, and middle school teachers will talk about rape and sexual assault, and in high school the curriculum includes information about condoms and the morning after pill.
Randy Thomasson of the conservative nonprofit Campaign for Children and Families is already blasting the new sex education curriculum. The C.C.F. opposes abortion and same sex marriage and encourages abstinence as the best protection against sexual disease and unwanted pregnancy. State law however prohibits abstinence only sex education.
It took two years for the board to discuss and agree upon the new curriculum. It is unclear exactly when the fifth grade lessons on STDs will begin, but presumably teachers will need to be trained and new materials acquired. Sex education will be integrated into current health classes about drugs and violence.
Swag Geek: Riddle me this- WHY is sex education being integrated into current health classes about DRUGS and VIOLENCE? Sex is NOT on the same negative, connotative level of drugs and violence. Sure, sex can sometimes involve drugs and assault, but it should not be treated as if they are all one in the same. And 5th graders automatically learning about STDs? What about sexual anatomy, puberty, REPRODUCTION even? Then RAPE and ASSAULT in middle school? Still not seeing any positives there. And finally in high school, you get condoms and the morning after pill? That’s like saying “We are just now teaching you about condoms when you needed that information when we were talking about STDs in elementary, and you are probably already sexual even though we want to believe you aren’t, so just in case you screw up with condoms because we know you will, here’s info about the morning after pill! Making it the solely the female’s responsibility for avoiding pregnancy!”
Now, I know that Cali is trying to become better with regards to sex education (We currently have a C in Sex Education according to Amplify), but all this article is showing me is that sex education is still laden with fear tactics and negative connotations about sex, when sex (practiced safely and with consent) is AWESOME.
Much more definitely needs to be done.
- Douching with Mt. Dew and/or bleach WILL NOT be an effective method of preventing pregnancy or STDs. You can make yourself at risk for infection and throw your ph levels off, not to mention the bleach alone will cause burns. Spermicides are not such effective methods of birth control. Douching at all is actually pretty bad. A vagina is naturally equipped to keep itself clean. Look into condoms (male or female), birth control pills/patches/shots, or a IUD.
- Wearing two condoms is not much more effective at preventing pregnancy. If anything, you’re putting yourself at risk of both of them breaking from the friction.
- Birth control in pill form is to be taken everyday at the same time for it to work. Unlike how some politicians think it works, you don’t take it right before sex. You should have a set time to take it every day. If you have problems remembering to take it every day or have too many side effects I suggest looking for another contraceptive method.
If I were going to describe the perfect contraceptive, it would go something like this: no babies, no latex, no daily pill to remember, no hormones to interfere with mood or sex drive, no negative health effects whatsoever, and 100 percent effectiveness. The funny thing is, something like that currently exists.
The procedure called RISUG in India (reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance) takes about 15 minutes with a doctor, is effective after about three days, and lasts for 10 or more years. A doctor applies some local
anesthetic, makes a small pinhole in the base of the scrotum, reaches in with a pair of very thin forceps, and pulls out the small white vas deferens tube. Then, the doctor injects the polymer gel (called Vasalgel here in the US), pushes the vas deferens back inside, repeats the process for the other vas deferens, puts a Band-Aid over the small hole, and the man is on his way. If this all sounds incredibly simple and inexpensive, that’s because it is. The chemicals themselves cost less than the syringe used to administer them. But the science of what happens next is the really fascinating part.
The two common chemicals — styrene maleic anhydride and dimethyl sulfoxide — form a polymer that thickens over the next 72 hours, much like a pliable epoxy, but the purpose of these chemicals isn’t to harden and block the vas deferens. Instead, the polymer lines the wall of the vas deferens and allows sperm to flow freely down the middle (this prevents any pressure buildup), and because of the polymer’s pattern of negative/positive polarization, the sperm are torn apart through the polyelectrolytic effect. On a molecular level, it’s what supervillains envision will happen when they stick the good guy between two huge magnets and flip the switch.
With one little injection, this non-toxic jelly will sit there for 10+ years without you having to do anything else to not have babies. Set it and forget it. Oh, and when you do decide you want those babies, it only takes one other injection of water and baking soda to flush out the gel, and within two to three months, you’ve got all your healthy sperm again.
The trouble is, most people don’t even know this exists. And if men only need one super-cheap shot every 10 years or more, that’s not something that gets big pharmaceutical companies all fired up, because they’ll make zero money on it (even if it might have the side benefit of, you know, destroying HIV).
PLEASE: If this sounds awesome for you or your loved one, get the word out. Share this article. Or this link. Or this one. Or this one. Sign this petition. Do something! A revolutionary contraceptive like this needs all the support it can get.
UPDATE: A lot of people are asking to be kept in the loop. So here’s the clinical trial/mailing list sign-up from the Parsemus Foundation to get further information about this procedure’s development. And again, please fill out the short non-spam petition to get the procedure funded and keep buzz going.
If you’re always trying for simultaneous orgasms, stop. For most couples, it’s impossible to control. Trying just adds a level of pointless pressure — and, usually, disappointment. It’s tough to surrender to the moment if you’re gauging your partner and your partner is gauging you. Instead, take turns so you can each give in and fully enjoy yourselves. Look at simultaneous orgasms as nice but rare thing, like seeing a shooting star or winning $5 on a scratch-off ticket.
(Source: women.webmd.com)
What are Pubic Lice?
Pubic lice are small, six-legged creatures that infect the pubic hair area and lay eggs. These lice can also be found in other areas of coarse sparse bodily hair. They lay small gray-white oval eggs (nits) that are attached to the hair shaft.
Itching is usually worse during the night, when the lice are more active.
Symptoms include;
- Itching ( This is caused by an allergic reaction, when a Lice bites the skin to feed on a person’s blood. Their saliva from these bites causes this result.)
- Inflammation and irritation in the infected areas. (Due to scratching.)
- A skin reaction that is bluish-grey in colour ( These will be small, flat marks (maculae cerulea) that look like bruises. These can still exist, months after the lice have been killed.)
- Lesions (sores) in the genital area, due to bites and scratching.
- Black “powder” in your underwear. (Excrement from the lice.)
- An eye infection (blepharitis) may occur in young children.
Popular Misconceptions and Beliefs:
Treatment creams and gels are just insecticides, right? Can’t I just use the insecticides I have at home?
FALSE!: DO NOT USE HOUSEHOLD INSECTICIDES!These will not work and can damage the skin.
Pubic Lice/Crabs Is an STD.
True:Pubic Lice are typically considered to be an STD. This means that transmission mostly occurs from direct person to person contact (usually through sexual activity)
You always experience symptoms!
Half-True: It is possible to have an infestation of Pubic Lice without any symptoms, but a typical individual will usually at least experience itching.
It’s not really a problem, they’re annoying, but harmless.
False: If a case of Public Lice is left untreated,it can lead to severely infected skin. When you scratch, you break skin, and that broken skin can be infected by bacteria, particularly that found in the refuse of the Pubic Lice themselves.
Additionally, you may also experience matted and foul-smelling pubic hair and infected blisters in the pubic area.
They only live in Pubic hair!
False: They can be found anywhere you have body hair. This includes the hair of the beard, moustache, eyelashes, eyebrows armpits, and sometimes the chest and abdomen.
If get crabs, just shave and you’ll get rid of them!
False: If you have Pubic Lice and shave off your pubic hair, the lice will simply relocate to another areas of the body that Pubic Lice infest.
They need a human body to survive!
False: Pubic Lice can live in your bedding. In particular, they infest underwear but can even infest your clothing, especially along the inner seams. However, infected carpet and fabric covered furniture are also possible danger-zones. Even a hairbrush can potentially be an infection site.
This route of transmission via contaminated objects is thought to be very rare.
If you shave your pubic hair, and have sex, they can’t infect you.
False: Pubic lice is transmitted both by sexual and non-sexual contact.
For example, by sharing towels, bedding and/or mattresses with an infected person. Sitting on infected carpet, or couches.
It should also be noted that mutual masturbation is not a guarantee against contracting Pubic Lice.
Pubic Lice can’t live very long without a human host.
True: Pubic/crab lice survive approximately 24 hours, however as mentioned they can infest your clothing and bedding- from which they can feed on you.
You can’t catch Pubic Lice if you use a condom.
False: Even if you wear a condom, you can still become infested with pubic lice.
Pubic Lice Outbreaks are Common in Tanning Beds.
Half-True:Pubic lice outbreaks in tanning beds have been reported. This, however is a very rare occurrence, and can only occur if the bed is improperly sanitized.
I can just buy treatment off the pharmacy shelves!
Half-True: While it is advisable to visit a GP, Doctor, or Sexual Health Clinic, You can treat pubic lice yourself at home. Your doctor or pharmacist can advise you on which treatment to use and how to use it. Treatment usually needs to be repeated after three to seven days.
Note: Infants, people who are pregnant and people who are breast feeding will need a different treatment.
I can use the same treatment on each infected area!
Topical creams or lotions containing permethrin (for example, Lyclear cream or Quellada lotion) and applied to the affected area are the most commonly recommended treatment.
However, Permethrin should not be applied to the eyelashes. If this area is affected, discuss an alternative treatment such as petroleum jelly may be necessary.
Water-based treatments are also available for those with allergies and sensitive-skin.
Pubic lice can sometimes develop resistance to certain treatments. Your doctor or pharmacist can advise you on suitable alternatives if this occurs.
Animals do not get or spread pubic lice.
True!
Once I’ve been treated, I can’t get them again any-time soon.
FALSE: Once you have treated the crabs you need to ensure you do not become re-infested.
Even a single nit that escapes the treatment can quickly multiply and infest an area of your body.
To prevent this you must wash all clothing you used during and a little before the treatment. This means any blankets, sheets, linens, clothing and towels. Wash the clothing in hot water (at least 54 C/129 F) and soap, and then dry them at high heat for 20 minutes. Anything un-washable, should be dry-cleaned.
Contact with an infected person can re-infect you.
However, In a repeat case of lice, a person’s symptoms may be hastened because their immune system reacts quicker, for second time exposure.
Treatment for public lice will be much more effective if few simple guidelines are consistently followed:
- The instructions on the medication you receive should be carefully read.
- The treatment should be repeated after one to two weeks. No treatment is effective against unhatched eggs. These Eggs hatch in 6–10 days, so a repeat will be necessary to prevent re-infection.
- Typically, the entire body from neck to toes should be treated, including the perineum and the anal area.
- Wash clothing, towels and bedding at the same time as treatment.
- The skin should be cool, clean and dry when the cream is applied.
- Avoid close personal intimate contact with contact(s)/ partner(s) until you both are free of infection.
Any sexual partners you had over the last month will need to be examined and treated. This means both current sexual partners and anyone you have had close body contact with.
~Maddy
Any corrections, thoughts, feelings or comments can be directed to;
Argentina JUST PASSED a groundbreaking gender identity bill!!!
From now on, people will be able to change the name and gender on their ID without needing psychiatric permission or any body modifications. Furthermore, anyone who does want hormones or surgery will be able to access them for free through the public and private health system.
It was passed unanimously today by the Senate :-D
(via stfuconservatives)
Obama stepped out and supported gay marriage. Now we have to step out and support him. For every independent and conservative vote he just lost, we need to make up for it with an independent or progressive vote.
I am fucking serious as fuck right now. Please don’t think this was easy for him. You’re going to have to get out there and vote in November, or this doesn’t mean shit.
If Obama is going to bat for the LGBT community then everyone in favor of gay marriage needs to go to bat for Obama.
You may feel lukewarm about him. You may not like him. But I can tell you for a certainty, his opponents do not support you. They do not have your interests in heart. And they are going to try to stop you, from getting the rights you deserve as a fucking human being.
If you want to be horrified, consider this: they took DOWN the comments section, on the FOX news page that reported on this, because it was so rife with racism and homophobia. Fox. Took it down. Because it was too disgusting.
THIS is the original title to their article, which they later edited at 4pm:
Here are some important quotes from his interview:
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”and
“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational. You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same sex equality or, you know, believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”
In a time where a man can go on the news and say that letting women vote was a mistake (don’t believe me?), this, I feel, is something we really need to pull together on.
Please. Do not underestimate your power as a voter—politicians are counting on the fact that young people has atrocious turnout for elections, especially local ones. Donate to his campaign here. Do not wait to register to vote—you can register at rock the vote. And most of all, pass it around to your friends. To your family, to everyone you fucking know. This is important. We have to make it understood that we support the person who stands with us. If we don’t, then he will have put himself on the proverbial chopping block in the media for nothing. Supporting marriage equality has historically been political poison. No more. It needs to end here, with us. We need to be the ones to make the change happen. And we can. Yes we can.
(via giant-sequoia)
I visited Christian pregnancy centers that lure women in with false promises of medical care. Here’s what they told me about abortions, breast cancer, shame, and death.
*Not just cis-women
(via isabelaismyhomegirl)
(Source: kileyrae, via stfuconservatives)
I know I’ve told this story before, but my abusive ex refused to let me take birth control. I was on the pill until he found them in my purse.
I went to the Student Health Center—they were completely unhelpful, choosing to lecture me about the importance of safe sex (recommending condoms) instead of actually listening to my problem.
Then I went to Planned Parenthood. The Nurse Practitioner took one look at my fading bruises and stopped the exam. She called in the doctor. The doctor came in and simply asked me: “Are you ready to leave him?” When I denied that I was being abused, she didn’t argue with me. She just asked me what I needed. I said I need a birth control method that my boyfriend couldn’t detect. She recommended a few options and we decided on Depo.
When I told her that my boyfriend read my emails and listened to my phone messages and was known to follow me, she suggested to do the Depo injections at off hours when the clinic was normally closed. She made a note in my chart and instructed the front desk never to leave messages for me—instead, she programmed her personal cell phone number into my phone under the name “Nora”. She told me she would call me to schedule my appointments; she wouldn’t leave a message, but I should call her back when I was able to.
And that was it. No judgment. No lecture. She walked me to the door and told me to call her day or night if I needed anything. That she lived 5 blocks from campus and would come get me. That I wasn’t alone. That she just wanted me to be safe.
I never called her to come to my rescue. But I have no doubt that she would have come if I had called. She kept me on Depo for a year, giving me those monthly injections in secret, helping me prevent a desperately unwanted pregnancy.
I cannot thank Planned Parenthood enough for the work they do.
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