Mainly, well, I don’t know, I mean, if a girls at a point she will want to have sex just as much as me kind of thing. And well, mainly men really as well, ‘cos it’s mainly the men that never think about that, they just you know, men just go for it no matter what. But I think yeah, really just should be both of us that should think about it.

So when you use condoms, why do you use them? What is your main reason for using them?

Well my reason is you can’t control, you might leave her pregnant you know, that is the main reason.

OK.

As well as for other reasons, like catching something, whatever, but mainly for not leaving girls pregnant.

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As far as I’m concerned if theres no condoms, theres no nookie.

Well you see, when I’m not with them, I don’t know what they’re up to, so they could be out there mucking about for all I know. And I don’t wanna catch anything, I don’t wanna get pregnant, so I gotta be safe.

I think, in my personal experience, fellas well a couple they’re just childish, they just want to have a good time, they don’t want a proper relationship. They wanna have fun, and then see you later, going to see the boys and hanging out with the boys. So I think girls tend to be a bit more serious when it comes to things like that.

Where does your attitude for safe sex come from, did you discuss it with friends or with your mother or somebody?

No, I don’t know where it comes from to be honest. It’s just, I don’t know. It may really stem from the fact that I didn’t want a baby. When I first became sexually active it was mainly the fact that I didn’t want a baby, that’s where it first started from, and then the more I learned about STIs and AIDS and HIV, it just got stronger. I was like, no condom, no nookie. I’m happy to have none. But no, I think it all just started from the fact that I didn’t want children.

Make sure you use it, make sure you use your contraception all the time. That’s all I can, that’s all I can say you know make sure you use it. Don’t do nothing without it, that’s all I can say.

Okay is there anything you would want to tell other young people regarding sexual health in general or sexually transmitted infections?

If you suspect you have anything then make sure you go to the clinic right away you know, or talk to someone you can trust about it, may be get some moral advice from them. But otherwise just always you use contraception, I mean especially the guys, make sure you do. You know what I mean because if anything comes to worse it’s always you, so make sure you do.

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You said you had some information about sexual health for instance about safe sex, prevention of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections?

I think infections aren’t so, I mean pregnancy is a bigger worry than infections to a lot of teenagers and that’s something that’s not so widely spoken about, for me anyway.

When I was a teenager I think that pregnancy was the main issue rather than infections and I found myself with an infection once and I had to go and sort it out and I didn’t really have a lot of support from you know, people to talk to, I didn’t talk to my peers about it.

I felt like I’d been an idiot and it was just stupid of me for being lax you know, and since I’ve made sure that you know, theres absolutely no contact before the condom went on you know because you think well, the most important thing is to make sure that he doesn’t ejaculate you know what I mean, and you can have as much contact then, and that’s something I think that I wasn’t really aware of as much, I was more concerned about not getting pregnant, you know at that stage, and then after that things changed.

I mean at school I was always very aware of the fact that I would never ever sleep with a man without a condom it was just ‘god that’s really silly’, but I think as you get older you start to lose that, I started to lose that a little bit and I think I would realise now that that is not a good thing to lose, to be like, oh you know that’ll be okay, even if I am on the Pill, it’s just that I should be.

I mean, it was always in the back of my mind, you know, panic don’t get pregnant and don’t catch Aids were the two main things. So after quite a few drinks you know, you feel a bit ‘oh well, I won’t catch Aids, I won’t get pregnant, I’m too drunk, I’ll be fine. Your judgement goes quite a lot, it can sway you quite a lot and like I said to you, that I always, I had condoms in my purse.

If I was even too drunk to think ‘oh I can’t be bothered, I’m too drunk to get them out of my bag then they were in my bra so that was even more, that was a warning of hey I’m going to have sex now, I should get these out. But I think when people do that, I don’t know if it’s because, I think a lot of people think ‘it’s not me, I won’t catch anything, that’s impossible. Or, I don’t do drugs and he doesn’t do drugs, no we haven’t got Aids.

I think they kind of think that they’re never going to catch anything and they’re okay. And under alcohol their judgement is definitely swayed so it just makes it easier to not think about using anything. And I think that because the morning-after Pill, you can just pick it up from your local chemist as well, I think, I’m not generalising and saying that more people make more mistakes now because it’s so easy.

I think there is less pregnancies because you can just go to your chemist and pick the morning-after Pill afterwards but I think that people take more risks, almost. I mean there were a lot of programmes, you know, when I was in my late teens, a lot of programmes on the TV about Aids and HIV and a lot of campaigns and it struck fear into your hearts and you thought ‘oh my God, I’m going to catch Aids if I sleep with someone without using condoms. But now I don’t really see it that much.

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I think girls care more about getting pregnant and catching something. But boys are more careless about it and what, what I’ve seen with my friends, some boys, they’re quite pushy for you to have sex with a girl, without using a condom.

OK.

It’s like they don’t have a condom, they want to have sex. You say, ‘Well I don’t want to do it,’ but then they’ll say, ‘But it’s OK’, you know, and then they’ll just pressure you and then you end up having it.

Well the shop ones are better than the GP ones ‘cos they’re just, plain old boring ones, aren’t they?

They’re, they’re either too thick or, you know, they, it’s boring

I think the chemist ones are just, the novelty side of things, you know, they’re bright colours, flavoured and, you know, put on glow in the dark ones and it, it just makes you laugh when you get ’em and when you use them and it just amuses both, you know, yourself and the person that I’m with.

I would think that they need to get young people on their you know, designing board or something and get them to give some ideas and take some ideas and, you know, make their selection a bit more varied.

More geared to young people?

Yeah.

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I mean you go into a sexual health clinic and like they always give you really boring condoms, I mean it’s always the extra safe or the flavoured condoms, which are really boring. You know condoms are really boring, people don’t like using them because they desensitise you, they don’t feel as good. And there are condoms on the market that do feel good.

There are, you can get these Performance, is it, I don’t know if it’s Performance or Performa condom which would delay your man so you know that sex lasts a little bit longer. I mean I find the Inspiral condom you get from Boots is brilliant, it’s got, it’s got like spring loaded and it’s got a big tip so you know it doesn’t feel, for a man I can imagine it doesn’t feel like you’re all squeezed in.

You’ve got the Advantix, Advantee is it? The condom which again you know it’s quite thin and you know it’s got a big head on it. And you know, the condoms are too expensive, I mean you go into a chemist and you don’t want to be paying five quid for like a packet of condoms

I mean okay fair enough sexual health clinics you know, they can’t afford to be buying those types of fancy condoms, you can understand that, but I mean, you know at the end of the day the Government need to be putting that incentive out there, you know condoms are cheap, you can just go and pick them up for a fraction of the price and you know. If it’s there then you’re going to use it.

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They feel less concerned because they can’t get pregnant. So they feel less concerned about, about all those things. But the only thing, the only thing I will say is about sexual disease, I mean using condom and everything. There is one thing I will reproach. First you talk about it at the beginning, everybody talk about it, you have to wear condom.

And I don’t know, like on TV, I never saw any advertisement on TV about condom here. And after you go to the pharmacy and it’s extremely expensive to buy condom. And for sure you can have it for free in the Family Planning, but maybe you don’t think, or before you don’t plan ‘Oh tonight I’m going to have sex, so in the afternoon I’m going go to the Family”

So it makes that if you are in the street, I’m sorry but I found it really expensive. I think for me a condom it should be about 10p. One, and not three, four’I don’t know, it’s too expensive. And they are just little things that make you forget that you are.. not make you forget, I mean you, you forget yourself, that you have to use condoms. But I don’t know, it’s for this I found that really should improve a bit.

I think so, the condom it should be less expensive. It’s a stupid thing but it’s true, because the minimum wage is ‘4.20 per hour here when you are working, and after you go to another pharmacy here, I think for five condom it’s something like ‘4.00 or something. So you know, I mean it’s ridiculous to talk like this but it works like this. It’s like, when you have just a little job to make you survive, each penny you think about it because maybe it will help you to eat properly the day after. So I don’t know, it should be less expensive.

It’s me and the way life is if the woman becomes pregnant it’s his fault, it’s all, it’s just, it’s just the way life is. Some things you have to just accept in life. I mean it’s like obviously you could have a daughter and your daughter come back pregnant you’re going to look on the guy, it’s always usually instantly the guy you know.

So I’m more responsible for it, it’s just things in life, that’s just the way life is realistically, because I mean theres lots of stereotypes on guys it’s just the way life is. It’s like if you’re living with your partner and your house is an absolute tip they look on the female, they don’t look on the man, they look on the woman.

So it’s the same with sex, when it comes to contraception they usually look, it’s always the guy you know what I mean? So like if a girl come along and say “Mum I’m pregnant,” my dad would go “Where is he?”. It’s always him you know they’re looking at you. You know what I’m trying to say, and if I’m the one who got the girlfriend my mum is going “Well where was your contraception?” it’s you, so as a guy it’s usually you that answers, the arrow is on you. So I’m really responsible for it mainly yeah.

I mean some people, I’ve got some friends who are not really bothered because the girls are not bothered. It’s like they’ll say “I haven’t got a condom babe,” they say “I don’t care,” you know some people are not bothered but some they always say “I always have my thing.” The girl could look like Halle Berry if I haven’t got something I ain’t doing it you know.

So everybody, I can’t really generalise because in my age group theres a lot of people, some bother, some don’t, some are very conscious, some are not so conscious. You know what I mean.

Okay, the ones that do bother, why do they bother?

Because realistically when it comes to sex it takes two so if you say “I ain’t got nothing,” but the girl is still saying “Come on then,” then he ain’t going to risk no temptation, same vice versa so it’s really they encourage each other so that’s why they do it.

Lots of people don’t realise that if you’re, you know, just sort of body rubbing or dry humping or just touching it or using your mouth or something you can catch all manner of things from it. But you just don’t realise because you think, ‘Well it’s not sex, I’m not going to get pregnant so I’m not going to get an STI." You can catch anything anyway and indeed pubic lice you catch without having sex is the main one that you would catch. But all sorts of things that use, the way you touch the bodily fluids, you can catch something, you know like possibly not Chlamydia but Herpes definitely you could get that and that’s incurable and Gonorrhoea you can do that as well, HIV it requires probably blood as well as sexual fluids but if you’ve got a cut on your finger that’s enough, you know, things like that.