Kinkly: What's unique about your blog?
Jenelle: I think what makes our blog stand out is the personal stories - mine and those of our readers who come and share their perspectives anonymously. We also have our fair share of expert and medical practitioner articles, but it's the personal, raw, and honest voices that stand out the most when you visit The STD Project.
Kinkly: What is the topic you find yourself covering most often and why?
Jenelle: Definitely herpes and herpes stigma. Herpes is like the last bastion of socially acceptable shaming. People use it in punch lines, you hear it in every comedy, friends use it to call someone slutty or dirty...it's just riddled with so much unnecessary shame that when people are diagnosed with it, they almost always lose it for a little while. So, our job is to bring them back from the edge.
Kinkly: What was your most popular post ever? Why do you think it drew so many readers?
Jenelle: Hmmm...that's a good question because they rotate from month to month. The top three, in no particular order, are the difference between an STD and STI, if so many people have herpes then why is everyone afraid, and what is my risk of spreading herpes?
Kinkly: What's the best thing about writing a sex blog?
Jenelle: I've become everyone's secret keeper. People tell me all manner of things about their sex lives, I think, because they know that they won't be judged or shamed and that I'll legitimately try to help if they're asking for advice.
Kinkly: What's the worst thing about it?
Jenelle: I've become everyone's secret keeper. LOL. It's simultaneously the best and the worst part of this work. I just wish everyone else knew how "normal" they were and how many other people have similar secrets, experiences, and feelings, but it's not my place to share those details other than in a general way like I just did. So, I keep it all to myself. It can be a little maddening at times.
Kinkly: OK, now for the good stuff: Give us your best tip for great sex.
Jenelle: Great sex is whatever you think great sex is - you don't have to have a lot, a little, a certain kind, a certain way, with certain people, in certain places, for certain reasons. There are no rules. No one gets to choose what is right for you and your body. I think that's the very first step to having, receiving, and giving great sex. It is entirely up to you to define what that means for you. As long as it is consensual, it is no one else's business. Period.