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Dear Sasha, I recently started working in a massage parlour that features a room with a jacuzzi. It’s rare that a client chooses this feature, but when they do, we are expected to enjoy it naked together in fairly close proximity. I don’t offer complete service and I’m careful to keep my skin-to-skin contact genital free. I’m wondering what other precautions I should be taking to avoid any transmission of STIs through this activity. I was under the impression that hot tub transmission was a myth but my research is turning up mixed. We don’t chlorinate. Should we?
—A
Dear A,
“I remember being completely shocked when attending a lecture on STIs and the doc said his kid got molluscum contagiosum from a hot tub,” says Lyba Spring from Toronto Public Health. “It’s just a skin infection, but can take a while to clear up. It’s the same treatment as for HPV warts.” I can attest to how pesky molluscum can be—I got it from the pole at work myself. All I remember was thinking, “Mollusks?! I have mollusks?!” It gives you an odd sense of how much water the body is made up of when you can cultivate, like, oysters on your inner thighs.
“Her skin-to-skin contact is genital free, but is there any contact in the boxer short area?” asks Lyba. “If there is, she is at risk for the herpes virus and the human papillloma virus that can lead to warts.” Lyba also suggests looking at this PDF file TPH puts out in regards to intimate shaving, which can also put you at risk: toronto.ca/health/sexualhealth/pdf/sh_shave_notshave.pdf.
What I get from the “hot tub transmission as myth” thing is that it’s rare or exceptional to get it from the hot tub itself. Rubbing against someone in said hot tub, chlorinated or not, seems to pose the most legitimate concern.
“I have not read anywhere that HPV can be transmitted in a hot tub—only molluscum contagiosum,” says Lyba. “I agree with you that skin-to-skin contact in the ‘boxer short’ area can transmit HSV or HPV. We learned that chlorine cannot kill Hep C, so we stopped recommending using bleach to clean needles and works many years ago. So if she is rubbing up against her clients, my feeling, not based in research, is that she is at risk, in or out of the tub.”
Dear Sasha, Sometimes my vag gets a chalky sour taste to it. There’s no “off” odour or fishy smells and I’ve made all of my regular gyno appointments for check-ups, so I’m wondering what might be causing it and also how to make it stop. I know that what you eat is supposed to make your cum taste better but I’m a healthy eater and eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I just want to know what’s causing it and how to get rid of it. Can you help me please?
—Show Me
Dear Show Me,
What lubricates your vagina is a series of fluids from different sources. When the vagina becomes engorged, its walls secrete plasma. Bartholin’s glands, which are located just up from the vaginal opening also secrete mucous, along with the cervical glands. The consistency of this fluid varies throughout your cycle and it’s perfectly normal that, at certain times of the month, it becomes chalky and acidic.
Kim Sedgwick, who conducts workshops in the Justisse method of fertility awareness, describes this time as your “non-fertile period.” The discharge is thick and acidic so that it impedes any sperm trying to get through—kind of like driving in a blizzard. This discharge also contains cells being sloughed from your vaginal walls along with sweat. During times when you are fertile, the mucous is more alkaline and stretchy.
It’s good that you’ve made a gyno appointment though because, as Sedgwick says, factors like just coming off the pill can cause cervical irritation that changes your discharge. You’ll want to talk to your doctor about any meds you may be on or coming off.
If you are interested in learning more about the variations of vaginal mucous, I would suggest studying the Justisse method: justisse.ca.
Got any questions for Sasha? E-MAIL: POULEDELUXE@YAHOO.COM
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