ASHA was founded in 1914 as the American Social Hygiene Association. By 1959 that name seemed dated so ASHA became the American Social Health Association, a moniker we kept until we rang in 2013 by becoming the American Sexual Health Association.
Times change and our language and terminology need the occasional dusting off (perhaps reboot is more appropriate in 2016?). Another case in point from our sexual health field: the term VD (for venereal disease) eventually was replaced by STD which, in turn, is often playing second fiddle to STI (read our explanation of all this here). Do we perhaps need a more precise term?
In her paper “STD (sexually transmitted disease) or STI (sexually transmitted infection): Should we choose?” medical linguist Janet Byron Anderson, PhD, argues that we do and proposes “sexually transmissible infectious disease (STID)” as a more accurate way to refer these infections or diseases or…well, you read her paper and let us know what you think.
Do we need a new term for a new era and is STID the way to go? Send your comments to us via email and we’ll publish selected musings on the subject.
Today there are a lot of experts offering sexual health information and advice on websites and social media, but in the 1980s it seemed like everyone was listening to just one: Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
You can get STIs from kissing, but most experts would tell you that kissing—even passionate kissing with tongue—is a pretty safe sexual behavior.
STIs aren’t about age, they’re about sexual behavior. Older people are having sex, and they need to be thinking about sexually transmitted infections.
Public health experts have said that every case of congenital syphilis is a failure of STI screening and prenatal care. A new study looked more closely at cases to see what factors in a pregnant person’s life were most associated with congenital syphilis.
Women in states with restrictive abortion laws have few options today. And yet the prescriptions for birth control methods has fallen since the Dobbs decision.
The U.S. Supreme Court overruled a lower court decision that would have made mifepristone harder to get even in states where abortion remains legal. But the decision doesn’t mean the court is softening its stance on abortion rights.
ASHA believes that all people have the right to the information and services that will help them to have optimum sexual health. We envision a time when stigma is no longer associated with sexual health and our nation is united in its belief that sexuality is a normal, healthy, and positive aspect of human life.
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