AskYvonne about her favorite sex ed books!
Dear all:
I’m going to start a new feature in this column: book reviews! I read a LOT, and I’m always looking for good books about sexuality. I recently came across a book that is probably helpful for a lot of you readers out there. It’s called Monsters, by a very talented graphic novelist named Ken Dahl. (OK, so that’s his pseudonym, but you get the idea. That’s the name under which you’ll find this book.)
What is this excellent graphic novel about, you ask? Herpes. Yes, a graphic novel about herpes. I could not imagine a more perfect combination than those two things. And while it contains a bit of health information about herpes, the real value of this book is that it addresses something I’ve never seen before in print…the social ramifications of herpes.
Monsters doesn’t sugar-coat HSV. This book lets you know, in great detail, that it’s no fun, painful, and can derail your life if you let it. It deals with a lot of the interpersonal aspects of herpes. For example, how does a relationship survive if one partner is diagnosed and the other partner has no idea if they have HSV? How about herpes transmission through oral sex? Can I get herpes if my partner goes down on me with a cold sore? Will anybody ever have sex with me again if I have herpes? How would I tell somebody? What if I just went ahead and didn’t tell them? What’s the worst that could happen? It’s painfully honest. It’s also wryly funny, which emphasizes a really important message about HSV: it’s not the end of the world. It’s not even the end of your sex life.
Also not to be overlooked is the excellent illustration. The agony of a herpes outbreak as summed up by a black-and-white drawing is pretty precise. The emotion of his characters is so tangible - you can sympathize with them, and understand how well (or poorly) they cope with their diagnoses.
I recommend this book to people diagnosed with herpes (either recently or in the distant past), those who are dating someone with HSV, folks who think that a herpes diagnosis would mean the end of their sex lives, and, well, really anybody who is sexually active. A lot of folks think that hard data about herpes transmission is what they want, but statistics don’t give you any idea with how to cope with a diagnosis. Monsters fills a real void in the world of herpes information.
Posted on January 14th, 2010 by Jen
Filed under: ask_yvonne
I just ordered Monsters after running across it mentioned in an article online, when I was Google searching for the book Stigma by R.G. Clarke that I had seen mentioned off a tangent of a HSV support site I visited when I was first diagnosed with HSV two years ago. I just ordered both books, but everything I’m reading so far about Monsters only makes me more eager to read it. I think there’ll be some real empathy in the reading of it. And I agree that it doesn’t matter if it’s a fresh diagnosis or an old one, it’ll likely be a touching read either way; and an enlightening one for those who don’t have it, but don’t know enough about it.
When people develop a pimple on their genitals many think the worst, and believe it is a sign of an STD such as herpes. As a result they get worried, but due to the location of the pimple many suffer in silence because they are too embarrassed to get it checked out. On the other hand some people notice pimple like bumps on their genitals, brush it off as a minor rash or pimple, and do nothing about it, when it may actually be an STD. The best thing to do is speak to your doctor as he will be able to give you a proper diagnosis. If an individual does actually have herpes they will develop blisters on their penis, now these can be mistaken for pimples, however there is a way to tell whether these have occurred as a result of genital herpes. If it is herpes these blisters will be accompanied by flu like symptoms. Now that you know the relationship between herpes and pimples lets look at what can cause the latter to appear on the genitals.