7 Ways to Have Safer Sex Even Without a Condom

From: plus

Getting Tested

Getting tested and knowing your status is another element that's critical to having safer sex without a condom.  Face it, without knowing your status you don't know how to protect yourself or your partner. You can't start HIV treatment without knowing your status, you can't get on PrEP without an HIV test, and even avoiding sexual partners of another status requires you know your own. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people at high risk for HIV infection (including gay and bi men and transgender women) be screened for HIV at least annually. But the virus can be present for up to three months before it's detectable in a blood test; so to really be certain of your HIV status, you need to test more frequently.