The questions below were generated during the LGBT workshop’s session on health experiences during Pride Week 2010. All of the lesbians present shared that they never ask any questions relating to their sexual health when they go to see a doctor. They only go to see a doctor for the usual sicknesses of fever etc. They never consult a doctor relating to sexual health. They feel too afraid and too ashamed.
So, we asked the lesbians if they could ask a doctor some questions, what would they want to ask? Here are their questions and our answers:
1 Can lesbians be affected by sexually transmitted infections or diseases?
The basic answer is yes. In fact the message for lesbians isn’t that much different to the general population, as STI risk relates to sexual practice rather than sexual orientation. With women having sex with women rates of contracting STIs are generally much lower, but not zero.