Why Disclose Your Herpes Status Even Without Symptoms? Five Important Reasons
Five reasons to disclose your herpes status (even if you don’t have symptoms).
This account always advocates for disclosure, but I also acknowledge the world can be defeating for an already stigmatized population. Here are a few reminders of why sharing your herpes status is so important - even if you don’t have symptoms.
1. Sharing your STI status, whether positive or negative, is part of informed consent. If you know you have herpes, withholding disclosure does not allow your partner(s) to make an informed decision about their sexual health.
2. If you are living with asymptomatic herpes (whether oral or genital), you can still unknowingly “shed” the virus and transmit it to your partners.
3. Laws around STI transmission are complex (and have a racist history); However, withholding a herpes status may be seen as criminal depending on where you live.
4. Negative attitudes and discomfort around STIs often mask the discomfort we have with our sexual selves. Each time we introduce or offer a herpes/STI status, we’re working to reduce STI and herpes stigma for everyone (even if it doesn’t seem like it in the moment).
5. Remember, disclosure is a mutual act. Feeling burnt out by always being the first to bring up your status? Ask your partner to share theirs instead. Remember, you are not the only person with something to share. You deserve to know your partners’ STI statuses, too.