Personal story: Luna

"This story might help those who think they are too old to keep being a virgin, also those who only worry about pregnancy, but forget about other risks.

I lost my virginity at age 31 and I'm not married.  I wasn't waiting for a wedding to make love. I was waiting for a man who I deeply loved, one who really cared about me. During my student years I was very focused on studying, though I was involved with someone and he asked me to have sex during college. I realised I wasn't ready (@21).  Once we finished college we remained friends. Later I met other guys from work, but none of them I loved, I only liked them. And yes, I received more sexual proposals that I rejected.

When I was 28, I met a guy who I liked the first time I saw him. We became sort of friends, and we shared time together. We had an on and off relationship, but when we finally walked over a stable ground, I was more than ready to make love to him. He had stayed at my place many times before, but nothing had happened. This time, when we were reunited, he warned me... if we share the bed, I won't let you sleep tonight. And he kept his promise. I wasn't nervous, it was like the natural next step. We spent the night making love, it didn't hurt while doing it, but it hurt a bit the next day. The day after my vagina was a little swollen and I had some pain in my lower abdomen. We wore condoms… but with a little incident.

The incident with the condom didn't result in pregnancy, but I got a STI. Fortunately it wasn't serious among all the possibilities. I caught trichomoniasis , which is a parasite that can reside in the vagina, and the man can transmit it without knowing it, because it rarely shows symptoms on men... but the symptoms on women are not nice. The solution was easy, I took the prescribed medicine and I was cured, and told him to take the medicine as well.

So, what can be learned? Most people think they are immune to STIs, most of the times they are afraid to have themselves checked and still think they are 100% healthy. No matter how much you love your partner, and trust him, wear a condom and have enough of them, he might not know he is carrying an STI. When you decide to have sex without protection for whatever reason, you both should be checked before. Also, remember that HIV can take some time to show up on a test. Communicate with your partner about these issues... if I hadn't told mine that he gave me trichomoniasis, I would have been re-infected.

Besides the STI outcome, the experience was really satisfying and bonding (in case you were wondering, we are no longer together... that is how life is).”