Seductive Delusions: How Everyday People Catch STIs

Sexually active young people urgently need this book.

A 2009 Book of the Year, USA Book News

“It can’t happen to me.” Many high school students and young adults, seduced by their sense of invincibility, are stunned when they are diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI). But the fact is that anyone can catch an STI: no age group, social class, economic class, culture, religion, gender, or ethnic group is immune.

To drive home the risks and realities of unprotected sex, Dr. Jill Grimes shares real-life stories of young people―medical students, college freshmen, teenagers, young parents, talented entrepreneurs―who have gotten an STI. Dr. Grimes narrates the story of Liz, who got syphilis; Sofia, diagnosed with gonorrhea and chlamydia; and Zoe, with pubic lice. She describes how Justin got herpes, Sean got trichomoniasis, and Luke contracted hepatitis C. The accounts of these young men and women and their exam-room conversations with their doctors evoke both the physical symptoms and complicated emotional reactions that often go together with infection. Fact sheets throughout the book explain each sexually transmitted infection and answer frequently asked questions about symptoms, treatment, and prevention.

Used in high schools for the past five years, this new edition of Seductive Delusions shows how technological advances have speeded doctor-patient communication, including test results and treatment recommendations. It explains simplified STI testing, explores the frighteningly high incidence of date sexual assault, examines dramatic changes in cervical cancer prevention and Pap tests, and clarifies why HPV vaccines are now routinely recommended for all children―boys and girls.

Whether reading the book from cover to cover or jumping directly to a specific disease, readers will relate to the dramatic stories while learning medically reliable information. Making emotionally and physically safe decisions about sex is easier when you know how STIs are spread, how to avoid getting one, what their symptoms are, and how they are diagnosed and treated.

Jill Grimes, MD, practices medicine within the Urgent Care Department of the University of Texas at Austin’s University Health Services. She is the editor of Sexually Transmitted Disease: An Encyclopedia of Diseases, Prevention, Treatment, and Issues.