Usually, when we think of someone contracting a sexually transmitted disease or infection (STD or STI), we think of someone who is careless about practicing safe sex. People who take every precaution under the sun and are in monogamous relationships don’t typically contract STD’s or STI’s right? Wrong.
In a web series for MTV and Trojan Condoms, YouTube Vlogger and certified sexologist revealed that she contracted chlamydia from her boyfriend while they were in a monogamous relationship. Even though Boodram was embarrassed to tell her story, she decided to smash the shame and stigma attached to contracting STD’s and STI’s with a bull dozer and use her platform to spread awareness.
Boodram calls herself a survivor of chlamydia because she’s surviving the stigma and shame of having the infection and will tell other’s about her horrifying experience. Boodram was in a committed relationship, or so she thought, with her boyfriend for four months before they mutually decided to get tested, stop using condoms, and have her take birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. After they found out that they were both healthy and didn’t need to use protection, they proceeded with their relationship. It wasn’t until Boodram decided to take a random health screen that she learned that her boyfriend had given her chlamydia. At this point, the couple had been “monogamous” for over a year.
“One in four people who think that they’re in a monogamous relationship, that isn’t entirely true,” she said.
Boodram also schooled us with more facts and said that fifty percent of the women who contract chlamydia don’t show any symptoms. If Boodram didn’t get a random health screen, she wouldn’t have even known she had it.
Now, no matter what kind of relationship she’s in, Boodram always has condoms on deck. With over 200,000 chlamydia cases reported in the U.S per year, the vlogger isn’t shy about handing them out to friends and family too.
“It takes one condom that could potentially save your life.”
