it’s a lot of risk that is worth considering before making an informed decision

i would agree that there is some risk and it’s always worth being educated but stigma and FUD contribute to people not wanting to talk about sex

“getting tested” doesn’t cover most STI’s unless you’re symptomatic

patently untrue. a standard STI screen covers HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea

these are by far the most common STIs that’s cause anyone issues without other complications, and tests accurately catch them within weeks. standard public health advice is STI tests every 3mo for sexually active individuals (and in fact if you’re on PrEP to cover you against HIV, you get a 3 month script so it’s pretty much ensured)

HPV, Herpes, and many others are diseases for life

the HPV vaccine is very effective, herpes i’d agree with but causes minimal issues for the enormous majority of people without complications, and i don’t know what you mean by “many other”. if you can list them, id be happy to engage but otherwise the rest of that is more FUD

skill in knowing who to trust…

nope not at all! it’s public health. it has very little to do with trust, other than trying to limit as much as possible to people who know that telling their sexual partners when they get a positive test result is a healthy thing to do, and they won’t be berated for it… the main thing here is that you should feel confident that your sexual partners are going to tell you ASAP when you’ve been exposed, and that more than anything reduces that 3mo timeline and keeps everyone safe… but that only happens when people don’t stigmatise and fear the outcome

… i guess it also helps that here in australia STI tests are free and treatments all cost a couple of $

or you can just make sure everybody “gets tested” but that’s not how getting tested works.

as i’ve stated previously, it is with PrEP and with gay men - i don’t know much about the heterosexual community, but we have very active sexual health campaigns and they work