Welcome to Sexual Health with Hedda, Yavapai County! Share your questions about sexual health, STDs and HIV here, and have your questions answered in this amazing publication.
I am a sexual-health educator, HIV/STD tester and a PEP and PrEP Navigator. I want to talk about sex with the community because my eight-to-four is providing prevention services, testing, prophylaxis distribution and education and educating our community about HIV and STDs, with the goal of stopping both the stigma and the spread!
This is something we can do right now. It starts with making it okay to talk about our sexual health. I am old enough to remember when my grandmother whispered “C-A-N-C-E-R,” because it was not something people felt comfortable speaking about in public spaces. Now there are public campaigns to raise funds and awareness. We don’t have a March against Gonorrhea or a Concert to Raise Awareness About Syphilis, but we need one. We truly do!
Having an STD is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. Being unable to discuss your own sexual health is the cause for concern. Think about it: it’s you, your body and your parts. Next to your desire to survive, the second-strongest in us mammals is the reproductive urge. It’s hard-wired into our beings. Without my knowledge or consent, my body sends out and receives chemical responses from complete strangers at the store. It’s my own brain doing it without my knowledge.
Pheromones and hormones are our internal and external chemical exchange. They are why we’re sometimes sexually attracted to a person we would never otherwise consider as a partner or even one-night stand. Honestly, have you ever been turned on by someone and wondered why? Pheromones, baby! That’s for another day.
Today’s goal is to bring awareness of STDs and HIV to everyone and have it be part of the conversation in the newspaper. We need to talk and be able to have open dialogue — without making it smutty — about STDs, HIV, prevention and the latest and greatest advancements in the battle against sexually transmitted infections.
Share your questions and I will do my absolute best to provide you with answers and information so you can be more empowered with your sexual health.
Send in your questions today! I look forward to engaging with each of you.
Hedda Fay Community Outreach and Program Manager at Northland Cares
Contact her by email fay.h@northlandcares.org or
call her at (928) 776-4612 ask for Hedda
Hedda Fay, the Community Outreach and Program Manager of Northland Cares, answers your questions about sex and sexual health.
