With the current buzz on UKP being about looking after ourselves following recent STI worries I decided to man up and dropped into a Sexual Health Centre. Quite frankly I should have started going ages ago and it's thanks to fellow posters on here that I took a bit of responsibility and did it. It's wrong of us to assume that the professionals (WGs) can do it on behalf of the amateurs (us punters) to prevent infections spreading.
It was very quick and simple, however, felt a little out of place surrounded by girls about half my age and no blokes (some of the girls were quite hot, but the GUM clinic is probably not the wisest place to try and start something!). What amazed me was that in a reasonably large provincial city the nurse taking my samples said that I was the first guy she had seen in the clinic who admitted he was there because he paid for sex. I didn't ask how long she had worked there, but she didn't look far off retirement. Says that she sees plenty of sex workers but never anyone who says that they use their services.
(If you haven't visited one and you are an active punter I would encourage you to do so. They were friendly, completely non-judgemental and quick. She even offered me a box of condoms, although she didn't seem to understand that WGs want to have complete control of that side of things for their own safety until I explained it to her.)
