Sexual health

Condoms – Condoms are widely available for free from your doctor or nurse, family planning clinics, sexual health clinics, some youth centres, and GUM clinics. You can also buy them from pharmacies and supermarkets.

The male condom forms a barrier over the penis which stops sperm from entering the vagina, mouth or anus. It has to be put on when the penis is erect (stiff) to prevent it slipping off or splitting during sex. Most packets have an instruction leaflet to show you how to put a condom on in more detail and it is worth having a practice with different types and sizes to make sure you are using one that is comfortable and fits well.

You can also get female condoms which work by fitting loosely inside the vagina and stopping sperm entering the womb.

Dental dams - A dental dam is a thin latex sheet that can be placed over the genitals or anus before oral sex and acts as a barrier to prevent STIs being passed from person to person. Dental dams often aren’t as available as condoms so you can use a condom cut open and spread flat.

Condoms and dental dams are the only form of contraception that help to protect you from getting sexually transmitted infections. They are sometimes called ‘barrier’ contraception.

Contraceptive pills – There are two different types of contraceptive pill available to women. One is called the combined pill which includes two different hormones (estrogen and progestogen), and another called the POP (progestogen only pill) which only contains one hormone called progestogen. It’s best to take the pill at the same time every day to make sure it is the most effective it can be, and it’s safest to use another form of contraception if you forget to take your pill.

The best way to work out which pill is suitable for you is to see a doctor or nurse as they can give you advice about any side effects and they can also tell you if there are any types of pill that are unsuitable for you.

Contraceptive Implant – This is a small rod about the size of a matchstick that is placed under the skin in your upper arm and releases hormones that work to prevent pregnancy. It needs to be put in by a doctor or nurse who have been trained and once the implant is in your arm it works for up to three years. It is only available to women.

Contraceptive Injection – There are two types of contraceptive injection available to women; one that needs to be given every eight weeks and another every 12 weeks. The injection is given by a doctor or nurse and is injected into a muscle – usually your bottom.

Emergency Contraception – The main pill used by women for emergency contraception is called Levonelle and can be taken up to 72 hours (up to three days) after having unprotected sex. You can get Levonelle from a doctor or nurse, family planning clinics, sexual health clinics, some youth centres, and GUM clinics, and you can also buy it from a pharmacy, it costs around £25. Some pharmacies offer it for free if you are aged 16-25 but this does depend on the area of the country you live in.

A lot of these forms of contraception only work to prevent pregnancy. If you have had unprotected sex it’s worth getting your sexual health checked out at a sexual health clinic, GUM clinic or by your doctor.

An STI is a sexually transmitted infection. There are a number of different infections that can be passed from person to person through having sex. If you are worried at all that you may have an infection you can go to your doctor or nurse, family planning clinic, sexual health clinic, or GUM clinic who will be able to check for any infections and offer you treatment.

Some of the most common sexual transmitted infections are:

Chlamydia – Chlamydia often doesn’t have any symptoms which can mean that people can be infected without knowing and can pass it on to others without realising. If you do get symptoms they can be:

• a stinging sensation when you wee (pass urine)
• discharge from the penis, vagina or anus
• women may experience some pain during sex or bleeding between periods.

If it is left untreated, Chlamydia can turn into more serious infections of the pelvis in women and infection of the testicles in men. It can be easily identified by a swab or urine test and treated with antibiotics.

Gonorrhoea – Gonorrhoea is another STI that often doesn’t have symptoms. However women can find weeing painful, can experience pain during sex and may find that they have a really unpleasant smelling yellowish-green discharge. Men with the infection can experience painful testicles and yellowish coloured discharge coming from the penis, or anus if the infection has been passed on through anal sex. It can be easily identified by a swab or urine (wee) test and treated with antibiotics.

Genital Herpes – Genital herpes is a virus that is passed on from sexual intercourse, oral sex and skin to skin contact so it can affect your genitals, anus and mouth. If infected you may feel a tingling or itching feeling around your genitals, anus or mouth, then notice small blisters which burst and leave painful sores. Genital herpes can be treated successfully but they can’t be cured so once you have the virus in your body you may notice symptoms again when you are run down (a bit like cold sores).

Genital Warts – These can also be passed on from skin to skin contact during vaginal, anal and oral sex. Symptoms are the warts themselves – they may look like warts you get on your fingers or hands, or they may look flat and hard. They can spread and get bigger so if you think you might have warts it’s a good idea to get them treated as soon as you can. Treatment comes in the form of creams, liquids, or, depending on their size, freezing them or even surgery. Genital warts can be treated successfully but a bit like herpes, as they are both viruses, symptoms can be noticed again when you are run down or ill.

HIV and AIDS – HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system. People who have HIV can be at risk from developing AIDS which is where HIV has developed to the point where the body is no longer able to fight off infections and viruses. People who have AIDS can become really poorly from an illness that the body would usually be able to fight. You can get HIV from having unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex from someone who is infected with the virus. Some symptoms of HIV include a fever, rash and severe sore throat all at once around ten days after being infected. There is no cure for HIV or AIDS at the moment, although there are medications that help to control symptoms.

There are a number of sexually transmitted infections that don’t have any symptoms at all so if you have had unprotected sex, you are still at risk of having an STI. Even if you are totally healthy there is no guarantee that the person you are planning to have sex with is, so it’s always best to be safe.

You have the right to get help from sexual health services confidentially, even if you are under 16. However, if your health worker is worried that you are in danger of being hurt or abused they may want to pass information on to other services to help support you and keep you safe. They should talk to you about this.

If you are under 13 and are asking about sexual health/contraception, health workers are likely to be more worried about you having sex so may think that you need extra support or help and may pass the information on.

Sex can feel different when you’re wearing a condom but you can get extra thin ones, ribbed ones, flavoured ones and more. They all do the job of protecting you from STIs and getting pregnant when you don’t want to.

It is really important that you feel comfortable enough with the person you are thinking about having sex with, to talk about contraception together. It’s not fair for anyone to put pressure on you to have sex if you don’t want to. It’s really important that you feel respected by anyone you have sex with and your body and your partner’s body deserve to be kept as healthy as possible. Being able to discuss contraception in order to keep you safe is a sign of this respect for each other.

It’s up to you both to treat yourselves with respect and care. If you have any worries or concerns you can always chat to us, there might be lots of different reasons why you’re feeling scared to ask, and we can help you better if we know a bit more about what’s going on for you.

If you are worried about anything to do with sex or contraception, or if you have any questions you can talk to us about your worries and ChildLine can help.

We respect children and young people regardless of their age or gender or sexuality, and you can talk to us about any of your worries without being judged.