Sexual health glossary: A-D
Sexual health glossary: E-I
Sexual health glossary: J-Q
Sexual health glossary: R-Z
Rape: Forced sexual intercourse. Any person who makes someone have sex with them when they don't want to do it--a husband, friend, date or stranger--makes rape happen. This is against the law. The person who is raped might feel guilty, like they did something wrong, or even ashamed. This is not true. Rape is not about sex, it is about violence. It is important for the person to find someone they trust to talk to about it.
Reproduction: This is the whole process involved in making a baby.
Reproductive organs: The parts of a human body that do things to help make babies. Each part has a different job to do. In a female these parts would be the fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, cervix and the vagina. In a male the parts would be the penis, scrotum and testicles.
Rhythm method: A way that some people use to keep from getting pregnant. People try to do this by not having sex on the days that a woman would usually get pregnant. This is usually a few days before, during and after ovulation. Because it's hard to figure out when this happens in each woman, it usually doesn't work very well. It also doesn't stop germs that cause STIs from getting into people's bodies when they do have sex.
Rimming: Contact between the mouth, lips or tongue of one person in or around the anus (butt hole) of another person. It is one kind of oral sex. People can get STIs from doing this. It doesn't matter if someone is doing it or having it done to them. A person can place a barrier around the anus to prevent the spread of an STI during rimming.
Risk: Taking a chance. Having any kind of sex without a condom presents a risk for getting STIs. Sharing drug needles can put you at risk for getting HIV and other bloodborne infections including hepatitis B. Abuse of drugs and alcohol can also lead to risky behavior.
Safer sex: Ways to have sexual contact that allow little to no chance of getting a sexually transmitted infection. These include properly using condoms and other barriers, mutual or self-masturbation, and abstinence from sexual contact.
Saliva: Another word for spit. It is the fluid in a person's mouth. Most STIs can not be spread by a person's saliva.
Scotum: The soft sac of wrinkled skin that covers and protects a man's testicles.
Selective abstinence:Someone who chooses to be selectively abstinent might have some kinds of sex but not others. Many people are sexually active but limit what they do to avoidSTIs and/or pregnancy or because they do not feel ready to do some sexual things. Someone who practices selective abstinence may or may not run the risk of contracting an STI and/or having an unwanted pregnancy, depending on the activities in which he or she does.
Semen: The clear, whitish, sticky liquid that squirts out of a man's penis when he ejaculates. There are about one million sperm inside one drop of semen. Semen gives the sperm something to swim in, otherwise they couldn't move around.
Sex toys: Speciality toys that people might buy to use during sex with themselves or with another person. They could be dildos, vibrators, or other items. Sharing sex toys can be risky if they have vaginal fluids, blood, or feces on them. Sharing sex toys without cleaning them or using a condom can potentially expose a person to STIs. The safest practice is not to share sex toys. If sex toys are shared, a condom should be used.
Sexual abuse: When someone mistreats another person in a sexual way. This "someone" could be someone the person knows, someone the person loves, or a stranger. Sexual abuse often involves physical contact, including forced, unwanted sexual activity such as fondling or genital contact. Not all sexual abuse involves physical contact, though. Exposing one's genitals to another person, forcing someone to watch pornography, or pressuring someone for sex can all be forms of sexual abuse.
Sexual desire: A strong sexual interest or attraction for another person. People can have sexual desire with or without love.
Sexual fluids: The wetness that comes out of a man or a woman's genitals. For men it is semen and pre-seminal fluid and for women it is vaginal and cervical secretions. These sexual fluids transmit STIs (like HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea) if a person is infected.
Sexual intercourse: Any type of activity that involves the sharing of body fluids, or the penetration of an oriface (the mouth, vagina, or anus) between two or more people. Sexual intercourse also includes oral sex and anal sex. People can get STIs, including HIV, if they have sexual intercourse without a safe barrier that prevents the fluids from getting from one person to another. Other STIs, like herpes and HPV, can be transmitted during sexual intercourse, even when using a barrier, becuase these are transmitted through direct skin-to-skin contact.
Sexual orientation: Describes whether a person is homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual. A person cannot choose their sexual orientation. Their body chooses it for them.
Sexual pleasure: A good feeling that people get when they engage in sexual activity with another person, or through masturbation.
Sexuality: Everything in our daily lives that makes us sexual humans. It is made up of gender, sexual desire and feelings, and sexual contact.
Sperm: A male's sex cells, tiny living things that are made in a man's testicles. When a man ejaculates, semen squirts out of his penis. This semen contains millions of sperm cells. If this happens in or near a female's vagina, the sperm can swim around and try to find an egg. If a sperm gets inside a woman's egg, she can become pregnant. Sperm can live in the vagina up to five days. If a male doesn't ejaculate then the sperm is soaked up by his own body.
Spermicide: A chemical that kills sperm, used to help prevent pregnancy. Spermicide is available as a foam, cream or jelly and can be bought at a drug store. It can be placed on the outside of a condom or inside a woman's vagina. It cannot be used by itself to stop HIV from getting into someone else's body. Some people may be allergic to one or more chemicals in spermicide.
Sponge: Birth control that kills sperm, used as a form of contraception. A woman puts it into her vagina before vaginal sex. Sponges can help prevent pregnancy but do not protect a man or a woman from getting STIs.
Sterilization: A permanent kind of contraception. It invovles a simple operation that stops egg and sperm from meeting each other. Usually older people do this when they do not want to have any more children. Sterilization can be done to a man or a woman.
Straight: Another word for heterosexual.
Symptoms: Medically speaking, a symptom is something that a person can notice about himself or herself that is a sign of a disease. Common symptoms for STIs include bumps, blisters, or warts near the genitals, a burning sensation when a person urinates, or an unusual discharge or drip from the genitals. Many people with STIs may not have any signs or symptoms. There is no sure way to tell if someone has an STI from symptoms. Only a medical test can tell a person for sure.
Testicles: Two small egg-shaped male organs that hang behind the penis. They are soft and are covered and protected by the scrotum. The testicles are what make sperm.
Transfusion: Donated blood from one person given to another person when a loss of blood has occurred through surgery, an accident, or other medical needs. The donated blood supply in the U.S. is tested for HIV, hepatitis, and other types of blood diseases before it is used by others.
Transmission: The ways that any kind of infection, including an STI, can be spread. Having unprotected oral, anal, or vaginal sex, are the main ways STIs are transmitted. Blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, vaginal and cervical secretions and breast milk are all fluids that can transmit STIs. Some STIs can also be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact.
Urethra: The small tube that carries urine (pee) from someone's bladder to the outside of his or her body. The opening to the urethra for a male is the hole at the tip of the penis. The opening to the urethra for a female is just above the opening to the vagina, and just below the clitoris. Germs that cause STIs can get inside someone's body through the urethra.
Urine: The liquid waste that comes out of a person's urethra when they urinate (pee).
Urethritis: An infection of the urethra, the tube that urine (pee) goes through to leave the body. Urethritis is often caused by an STI. A person with urethritis often feels a burning sensation when urinating. Urethritis can be cured with antibiotics.
Uterus: A hollow organ that is found inside the lower pelvic area of a female's body. It is connected to both of the fallopian tubes and to the vagina. This is the place where a fetus grows if a woman gets pregnant. Each month, during a part of a woman's menstrual cycle the uterus gets ready to help a baby grow by making thick walls of blood. If a woman doesn't get pregnant then this blood flows out of the body.
Vaccine: A mixture of killed or weakened virus or bacteria, injected into a person to help prevent disease. Since the virus or bacteria in a vaccine is either killed or weakened, the body can easily defeat it. If a person is exposed to the virus or bacteria, the body's immune system can respond, since it has already been prepared by the vaccine. There are vaccines to prevent STIs, like HPV and hepatitis B.
Vagina: The place in a female that leads from the uterus to the outside of the body. It is also called a birth canal because when a woman has a baby it comes out through here. The vagina is the place where an erect penis goes during vaginal sex. Mucous membranes line the vagina, making it easy for germs that cause STIs or other germs to get inside the body of a female. This could happen even if the penis doesn't get inside but is near the vagina.
Vaginal secretions: A clear and slippery fluid that comes from the walls of the vagina. It is a natural lubricant that comes out before and during sex. This helps the penis get inside the vagina easier and also protects the lining of the vagina and the skin on a man's penis. It is also a fluid that can give STIs to another person.
Vaginal sex: When a man puts his penis into the vagina of a woman. This can make a woman pregnant if they don't use birth control. A person can also get STIs this way if their partner is infected. Correct and consistent use of condoms can prevent pregnancy and transmission of STIs.
Virgin: A person who has never had sex. Some people think it means someone who has not had oral, anal or vaginal sex. Other people feel that a virgin is someone who has had oral sex but nothing else. The word virgin means different things to different people. Sometimes it is good to ask a boyfriend or girlfriend what they mean when they say that they are a virgin. Depending on what their definition of a virgin is, they might have already contracted a STI.
Virus: A kind of germ that can cause disease. An STI caused by a virus, like herpes, HIV, or HPV, can not be cured, but can be treated to help make the symptoms disappear.
Vulva: The sex organs outside of a female's body. They include the labia and the clitoris.
Water-based lubricant: A lubricant in which the main ingredient is water. Use only water-based lubricants with latex condoms, not oil-based ones.
Wet dream: When a male has an erection and then ejaculates when sleeping. It can happen to someone without that person knowing about it. Wet dreams are perfectly normal and can happen at any age. These are sometimes called "nocturnal emissions."
Withdrawal: When a male takes his penis out of another person's vagina, anus or mouth before ejaculation to try to stop semen from getting inside the person. This is also known as pulling out. Withdrawal is not effective at preventing pregnancy or at preventing the spread of a STI.
Womb Another word for uterus.
Yeast infection: An infection due to candida yeast. A woman can get a yeast infection in her vagina when small amounts of yeast that normally grow there go out of control. Yeast infefctions are treatable with medicine. Yeast can grow faster if a person takes antibiotics or birth control pills for a long time, has an allergy to yeast, or changes their diet and eats a lot of sugar.
Zygote: A zygote is formed when a man's sperm fertilizes a woman's egg. It is the first step in what will later develop into an embryo, and then a fetus, and finally a baby.
