Talking with Your Partner About Sex

You make choices every day. Some choices are really important, like choices about sex. You need to stop and think before you act. When 2 adults both want to have sex with each other, sex can be a great thing for the couple. And, it can be a positive thing for both women and men.

Having sex comes with responsibilities and risks. You will need to talk to your partner about safe sex. You will also need to talk about preventing pregnancy and infections, or STDs (see glossary for examples of these STD infections). Sex can also cause some serious problems. You should think about those problems before you decide to have sex.

Making a decision about whether to have sex can be hard. Telling your partner about your decisions can be even harder.

Your partner may want to have sex. You need to tell your sex partner that you don’t want to have sex if you aren’t ready. Remember that having sex can change a relationship. It can also change how you feel about yourself. Having sex doesn’t prove that you’re in love or that you are a woman. And, having sex could result in your getting a disease or getting pregnant.

You should remind your partner that you are both responsible for birth control. Remember that condoms are needed with most forms of birth control to prevent infections that are spread by sex (STDs).