In our society, more people are willing to engage in sexual activity together
than to talk about it, and a good deal of the blame for sexually transmitted
diseases comes from this failure to communicate.

You all know the Golden Rule about doing unto others as you would have
them do unto you. If you planned to have sex with someone, and they had a
sexually transmitted disease, wouldn’t you want them to tell you in advance?
The same applies to you: If you have a sexually transmitted disease, you have
to tell any potential partners. Notice that I said potential because I won’t hide
the fact that, if you tell somebody that you have an STD, that person may
suddenly run in the opposite direction. If you have a disease such as herpes,
which never goes away, you will face not only a lifetime of outbreaks, but also
difficulty in finding partners. You have to accept that. You cannot go around
infecting other people.

By the way, Dr. Ruth isn’t the only one saying that you have to warn prospective
partners if you have an STD. One U.S. woman was awarded $750,000 in
court from her ex-husband because he gave her herpes, and the legal trend is
to make people accountable.
But I don’t want you to be up front about your disease merely to keep the
law away from your bank account. I want you to do it because you have sex
only with people whom you care about, with whom you have a relationship,and to whom you don’t want to pass a sexually transmitted disease.

Some of you may want to be honest but are saying to yourselves right now,
“How do I talk to a potential partner about STDs?”

The answer is very simple: You just do it. If you have the gumption to have
sex with somebody, then don’t tell me that you can’t work up the courage to
open this subject. I’m not saying doing so is easy. I am saying it’s not impossible, and that you have to do it.