My pathetic excuse for sex ed consisted of a whole lot of scare tactics and little else. We were shown images of genitals infected with STIs and they looked nasty! But that made us think that was what it looked like when someone got an STI. So I assumed that if genitals didn’t look like that, they were STI-free. I learned the hard way that most of the time, STIs don’t actually have any symptoms. I was getting a routine check up and because I said I was sexually active, the doctor wanted to test me for STIs. Ok. I wasn’t worried though, because none of the genitals on people I was having sex with looked like those genitals in our sex ed class. So, I just figured I was fine. Well I wasn’t fine. I had chlamydia and had no idea. I also had no idea how long I had it and how many partners I unknowingly spread it to! What a missed opportunity for something so simple. I’m pissed at my school for letting us down in that way and I’m thankful to my doctor for insisting a routine check up. I tell everyone I know now that STIs really just look like normal genitals and you need to get routinely tested if you’re sexually active.