In case you didn’t know, this week is National Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Health Week.

You probably didn’t know that, actually, because no one’s bloody well talking about lesbian and bisexual women’s health.

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And that’s especially true when it comes to our sexual health.

Earlier this week we reported that research highlighted by the National LGB&T Partnership had found that lesbian and bisexual women are being told they don’t need cervical screening tests because they have sex with women.


Which is incorrect.

Women who have sex with women are able to transmit infections through any sexual practices where skin and fluids that could be infected come into contact with each other.



So that means oral. And penetrative sex with shared sex toys. And vagina to vagina contact.

But the issues go deeper than just a few doctors being unaware of the risks involved when women have sex with other women (although that’s a pretty massive issue – shouldn’t our medical professionals be perfectly aware that it’s possible to have unsafe sex when a man isn’t involved?).

From sex ed through to our everyday sex-having habits, we’re not taking sexual health seriously when it comes to women having sex with other women.

In sex education, if gay relationships are mentioned at all, the different forms of protection that should be used when women have sex with women are rarely brought up.

Bethany Glover, 19, told the Terence Higgins Trust that while she learnt how to put condoms on bananas, ‘there was nothing at all about LGBT relationships’, while Emma Costello, 21, said that lesbian contraception was ‘never discussed’.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

This is often because within the confines of sex education classes, sex is framed as only a way to reproduce, instead of something pleasurable.

We’re told about contraception to protect ourselves from pregnancy and STIs. But if we’re taught that sex is simply a way to make babies, the idea of lesbian sex doesn’t even come into it.

And that means that women who have sex with women are entirely left out of sex and relationships education, left with no information about protection and given no sense that there are any risks they should be aware of.

Which means that women are having sex with women without giving the risks a second thought.

Sexually fluid Dorna, 24, told metro.co.uk that she’s never used protection when having sex with women, as it simply ‘never crossed her mind’.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

When it comes to having sex with men, however, Dorna views protection as essential.

‘I completely support safe sex but for some reason I guess I’ve never thought it was necessarily for lesbians,’ Dorna told us.

‘We’re all too busy trying to actually figure out our complex identities to stop and think if we’re doing it safely.

‘Plus no one ever really mentions or covers this particular topic with women. The gay community have several HIV and AIDS based charities who’s main objective is to raise awareness.



‘Unfortunately the demographic is usually male, lesbians don’t seem to have such open and available representation.

‘Dental dams makes me think of a trip to the dentists as opposed to a hot female date.’

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But even by the time women actually learn about dental dams (a form of barrier protection when having oral sex) – usually through chatting to other women who have sex with women, or doing some research on the internet – it’s not as simple as just running out and buying them.

Dental dams are not readily available.

They’re not stocked in club toilets (which upholds the assumption that oral on women isn’t a ‘casual sex thing’, but that’s a whole other issue). They’re not handed out willy-nilly at sexual health clinics. They’re not out on the shelves of Sainsbury’s.

I popped to Boots on my lunch break today, and found myself overwhelmed by condom options and pregnancy tests, but couldn’t find a single dental dam.

(Picture: Ellen Scott/metro.co.uk)

Even the categories of the aisles ignored the concept of lesbian sex. Condoms. Women’s Health (but with only creams for thrush rather than anything sexual). Fertility and pregnancy.

I asked the pharmacist where the dental dams were stocked, just in case I was missing the magical lesbian sex aisle, and was told: ‘I’ve never heard of dental dams, sorry.’

Right then.

The only options women have are shopping online or in specialist shops, where dental dams tend to be pricier than most condoms.

Where to get dental dams: While dental dams should be available in most pharmacies and supermarkets, they’re not. Instead, try these options. Buy online. Condoms.co.uk sells flavoured ones, but you can also get them from Amazon

Condoms.co.uk sells flavoured ones, but you can also get them from Amazon You can often find dental dams in sex toy shops

Ask at your local sexual health clinic

You can create a makeshift dental dam out of condoms if you’re in a pinch. Try flavoured ones as the taste of latex and spermicide can be a bit gross.

It’s no wonder, then, that a study in 2003 found that 86% of women had never used a dental dam, and only 1% of women always used one.


It doesn’t help that dental dams are fiddly and irritating to use.

Seriously. Think condoms are annoying? Try licking someone’s clit while using both hands to stretch a thing piece of plastic across your mouth. Try doing that and not feeling like a demogorgon clumsily trying to burst through the walls.

It’s hard to stretch a thin square of plastic over the vagina while you’re trying to give pleasure and making sure that every part of the vagina is covered. Plus you can’t get your hands involved in the main event, which is limiting.

The latex can feel strange against your tongue, reducing the intimacy of getting your tongue and mouth all up in another person’s bits.

Then there’s the general unsexiness of the whole thing. Stretching out latex between your face and the vagina just isn’t visually appealing.

(Picture: Dave Anderson)

Dental dams are rubbish, essentially. And because they’ve never been prioritised, no one’s thought of a way to make them more practical and pleasurable.

So women who have sex with women skip them entirely. The lack of education about the risks and the lack of promotion of using dental dams makes women think they’re ‘safe’ because there’s no man involved.

A 2008 study found that less than half of British lesbian and bisexual women had ever been tested for a sexually transmitted infection, and three quarters of women who hasn’t been tested believed they weren’t at risk.

And yet, more than half of lesbian and bisexual women who had been tested were diagnosed with an STI. So yes, the risk is still high.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

Claudia, a representative for the National LGB&T Partnership, told metro.co.uk: ‘We are failing to take women who have sex with women’s (WSW) sexual health seriously by rendering it invisible, and assuming there are no sexual health risks involved.


‘This is incorrect as the vast majority of women who have sex with women engage in sexual practices which could result in the transmission of STIs. The available evidence shows that very few WSW (women who have sex with women) use barrier protection methods.

How to stay safe when you're a woman having sex with another woman Use dental dams when giving and receiving oral

Don’t share sex toys, or if you do, add a fresh condom before using on each partner

Use gloves if you’d like to manually stimulate someone else and will then touch yourself (and change gloves in between)

If you also have sex with men, use a condom.

If it all feels like a load of faff, make sure that you’re getting regular sexual health checks, and make sure all sexual partners are doing the same. It’s important.

‘Lots of women who are having sex with women are also having sex with men and that some of the women and people they’re having sex with are trans.

‘So fundamentally, these wrongful assumptions about the types of sex WSW are having, who else they’re having sex with and the potential risks involved contribute to the lack of accurate and inclusive sexual health information available to WSW.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

‘This ultimately creates significant barriers to them accessing sexual health services.’

It’s a serious issue we’re not talking about properly – and one that could have serious consequences.

The solution? We need to stop ignoring women who have sex with women, and stop erasing the risks involved.

‘I think the first thing we can all do is talk about it – support its visibility and request more accurate, up-to-date research and information; ask for it to be included in sex and relationship education to ensure it’s inclusive of lesbian, bisexual and other WSW,’ Claudia told us.

‘Healthcare workers also need to develop sexual health and fertility strategies that explicitly consider the needs of LBWSW and increase access to testing services.’

Failing to provide education about the risks involved and how to protect ourselves is incredibly irresponsible and just plain unacceptable. We need to sort it out – and that starts with the simple act of taking lesbian and bisexual women’s sexual health just as seriously as we would take anyone else’s, sharpish.

Women who have sex with women can’t be erased. We can’t be ignored. And that includes our sexual health.

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