Why Do Students Still Think You Can Get HIV From Toilet Seats?: What Young People Don’t Know About HIV, STIs, Sex, Stigma, and Staying Healthy

The questions are real. The shame is optional. Can you get HIV from a toilet seat? Can you get an STI from oral sex? Can you tell whether someone has an STI just by looking? How do condoms, PrEP, PEP, and Doxy PEP actually work? Young people are not the only ones asking these questions. Many adults grew up without complete, accurate, or shame-free sexual health education. Parents, educators, and community professionals may also struggle to answer questions because no one ever gave them the language or information they needed. In Why Do Students Still Think HIV Comes from Toilet Seats?, community advocate, public speaker, and health equity strategist Von Biggs brings those questions into the open. Drawing from almost a decade of public health education, community engagement, and thousands of real conversations, this book addresses the misinformation, discomfort, and stigma that continue to surround HIV, STIs, sex, testing, prevention, treatment, and sexual health. Readers will find practical, plainspoken conversations about: - how HIV and STIs are and are not transmitted- testing, screening, and what to ask a healthcare provider- condoms, PrEP, PEP, and Doxy PEP- HIV treatment and what it means to live a healthy life with HIV- oral sex and other commonly misunderstood sexual behaviors- stigma, shame, disclosure, and communication- talking with young people about sexual health- finding reliable information in a world full of internet mythsThis is not a clinical textbook. It is an honest, approachable resource for young adults, parents, educators, community professionals, and adults who still have questions of their own. Because sometimes the questions we are embarrassed to ask are the ones we most need answered. Honest questions. Accurate answers. No shame.