Jenelle Marie Pierce is the Executive Director of The STI Project, the founder of the Herpes Activist Network, and is the spokesperson for Positive Singles. As an STI + Sexual Health Educator and content creator, Jenelle is dismantling STI stigma through awareness, education, and acceptance.
What She Shares:
- The definitions of STI and STD, and how they differ
- Safe sex vs safer sex
- How many sexually active people contract STIs in their lifetime
- Her own journey with untangling STI stigma
What You’ll Hear:
- Understanding that you are not alone with an STI diagnosis
- The majority of people living with STIs are unaware of their status
- Untangling the stigma around genital herpes
- Understanding that STI stigma originated with stigma around sex
- How different cultures view herpes
- Removing the differentiation between HSV1 and HSV2
- Examining your own views on promiscuity and what it means to be ‘good’
- Understanding the impacts of a positive STI status and learning to communicate about it
- Identifying the reasons why we engage in sex so we can have full agency over our choices
- Determining how and when to disclose your STI status
- How having an STI can increase the authenticity of relational communication
- Giving yourself time and space to determine if you want to move forward in a sexual relationship with a positive partner
- Remembering to embrace the pleasure of sex
- Holding personal agency in sexual decisions
- Finding an STI educator that fits your needs and style
