Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Risk Meter
When thinking about "safe" sex, it is important to realize that risk from various sexual practices often falls along a continuum, rather than having a clear safe vs. not safe boundary.
Are some kinds of sex safer than others?
Yup. There are even a few totally risk-free ways to get sexual pleasure and be intimate with another person, like masturbating, and dry humping (aka grinding) with clothes on.
Low risk activities include kissing, touching your partner’s genitals with your hands, using sex toys with a partner, dry humping (grinding) without clothes, and oral sex. But it’s still possible to get certain STDs from these things, so using condoms and dams to avoid contact with skin and fluids whenever you can helps you stay healthy.
Having vaginal or anal sex without a condom is super risky. You can get any and all STDs from unprotected vaginal or anal sex. The best way to protect yourself if you’re going to have vaginal or anal sex is use a condom every single time. Using lube with that condom also makes sex safer, especially anal sex.
When it comes to HIV, oral sex is much safer sex than vaginal or anal sex. But other infections, like herpes, syphilis, hepatitis B, gonorrhea, and HPV, can be passed during oral sex. So no matter what kind of sex you have, use condoms or dams to make it safer.
