Dr. Jasmine Abrams

So this study was conducted just before 2020.

And they told us that safer sex did include condoms.

but it was much more than that.

It was also getting tested.

It was being aware of your partner's history, having conversations, like communicating with your partner about sex.

A few people mentioned constant consent.

Other people talked about being in an environment where

I know that I'm not going to be physically harmed.

And folks also talked about feeling trust with a partner to be able to engage in sex with them and not feel threatened in a way.

This is such a great question.

We saw trust permeated decision-making, sexual health decision-making almost completely.

So thinking about establishing trust with a partner, that is what helped people experience comfort in a sexual relationship.

That comfort then helped them to feel more comfortable with engaging in unprotected sex.

And then the other portion of that was that sex was also more pleasurable for them.

So they spoke about how feeling trust with a partner, feeling comfort and connection with them was more pleasurable.

And often that was sort of the pathway to unprotected sex.

People also talked about trust like a gatekeeper in some ways like for partners in particular.

So for the women who spoke about, you know,

You know, if I had ever told my husband I wanted to use a condom or if I'm in a relationship already and I mentioned bringing up condoms or even with newer partners wanting to use condoms, wanting to talk about sexual history, that was seen as a violation of trust.

Exactly.