He’s really sick but you can’t see it. To look at him, you’d swear he was in perfect health…with those big muscles from lifting, those large, lean legs from running track and tanned cheeks and arms from being outside a lot playing ball. The guy’s a perfect specimen. But on the inside, he’s as sick as he can be; he’s infected with a serious sexually transmitted disease called gonorrhea or the clap.

He doesn’t tell anyone how painful it is when he tries to urinate, or what ugly looking white stuff shows up in his urine. Yes, he’s got a serious illness and his illness isn’t only his problem, it’s your problem. Know why? Because you sleep with him, just once, mind you, but having sex with him spread his sickness on to you.

You didn’t even know you had a sexually transmitted disease until your insides started feeling bad too. You got pains in your stomach, a lot, and it hurt when you urinated. You also stated bleeding between you menstrual periods. All the awful things that are happening to you inside could have been avoided if only you had asked you sex partner one question: “Before I have sex with you, I want to know whether or not you now have or have ever had an STD?”

Embarrassing as this question may be for both you to ask and your sex partner to answer, look at the risk you take by not knowing. Sure, its possible you may not get an honest reply. Sure there’s a chance your sex mate may not even know he has an STD, especially if it’s in the early stage of the disease. But ASK anyway. Many, many studies have shown that one of the main reasons that people end up with the pain, misery and sometimes inability to cure a sexually transmitted disease is that they were too embarrassed or afraid to ask the question: DO YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN STD? Never forget you are a worthy and valuable human being. You are too worthy and valuable to run the risk of not asking that question.

Women under the age of 25 are in the highest RISK group for getting an STD. Those who have had sex with many different partners increase their risk.