Sexual Health

AIDS

AIDS is the most advanced stage of untreated HIV infection, diagnosed when the immune system becomes severely damaged.

AIDS Epidemic

The AIDS Epidemic is the ongoing global public health crisis caused by HIV, which has killed roughly 40 million people since it was identified in the early 1980s.

Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the combination of daily medications that treats HIV by suppressing the virus, keeping people healthy and, when the viral load is undetectable, preventing sexual transmission.

Apretude

Apretude is the brand name for injectable cabotegravir, a long-acting shot given every two months to prevent HIV as PrEP.

Autism

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition involving differences in social communication, sensory processing, and behavior, and it overlaps notably with LGBTQ+ identity.

Cabotegravir

Cabotegravir is a long-acting HIV medicine that, as an injection, is used both to prevent HIV (as Apretude) and, combined with rilpivirine, to treat it (as Cabenuva).

Clean

"Clean" is a stigmatizing way of saying HIV-negative or STI-free that health advocates discourage in favor of neutral terms.

Condoms

Condoms are barrier devices worn during sex to help prevent sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.

Condoms Only

Condoms Only describes a personal prevention approach in which someone relies on condoms alone for protection against HIV and other STIs, rather than adding biomedical tools like PrEP.

Crystal

Crystal, also called Tina or crystal meth, is crystal methamphetamine, a potent stimulant tied to chemsex in some gay and queer male communities.

Descovy

Descovy is a brand-name daily pill combining emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide, used both to treat HIV and, in HIV-negative people, to help prevent it as PrEP.

Dirty

"Dirty" is a stigmatizing slang term used to describe someone with an STI or HIV, framed as the opposite of "clean."

Doxy-PEP

Doxy-PEP is taking the antibiotic doxycycline shortly after condomless sex to lower the chance of getting a bacterial sexually transmitted infection.

G (GhB)

G, or GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate), is a central nervous system depressant used recreationally in some party and chemsex settings, with a dangerously narrow margin between a dose and an overdose.

Gay Cancer

Gay cancer was an early, stigmatizing name for what became known as AIDS, coined in 1981 when doctors noticed a rare cancer appearing in young gay men.

Grid (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, Also Known As "Gay Cancer")

GRID, or Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, was an early and stigmatizing 1981 name for the illness renamed AIDS in 1982.

Grid, The

GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) was the original, now-abandoned name given to AIDS in the early 1980s.

HIV

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the immune system and, without treatment, can progress to AIDS, but effective medication now lets people with HIV live long, healthy lives.

Intersex Genital Mutilation

Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM) is a term used by intersex advocates for non-consensual surgical and hormonal procedures done on intersex infants and children to make their bodies fit binary sex norms.

K-Hole

A K-hole is the intense dissociative state a person can fall into after taking a high dose of ketamine, marked by feeling detached from the body and surroundings.

Ketamine (K)

Ketamine, often called K, is a dissociative anesthetic used in medicine and, at higher doses, recreationally for its detached, dreamlike effects.

KYS (Know Your Status)

Know Your Status (KYS) is a public health message urging people to get tested for HIV so they know whether they are HIV-positive or HIV-negative.

Lenacapavir

Lenacapavir is a long-acting HIV medicine that, given as an injection every six months, protects against HIV as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

Magnetic

Magnetic is an informal term for a couple in which one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative.

MDMA

A synthetic psychoactive drug, known as Ecstasy or Molly, that produces euphoria, emotional closeness, and heightened senses, and appears in some LGBTQ nightlife and chemsex settings.

Mephedrone (Meph, M-Cat, Meow-Meow)

Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant drug, part of the cathinone family, sometimes used in chemsex and associated with serious health risks.

MISTR

MISTR is a telehealth platform offering free, discreet online access to PrEP, HIV care, and STI testing, primarily for gay, bisexual, and queer men.

Mixed-Couple

A mixed couple, in HIV contexts, is a couple where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative, also called serodiscordant or mixed status.

Molly (Drug)

Molly is a street name for MDMA sold as powder or crystal, a stimulant and empathogen linked to nightlife and party culture that carries real health risks.

Monkeypox

Monkeypox, now officially called mpox, is a viral disease whose 2022 global outbreak spread mainly through close contact and disproportionately affected gay and bisexual men.

Mpox (Monkeypox)

Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is a viral illness whose 2022 global outbreak spread mainly through close contact among gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men.

On-Demand PrEP (2-1-1)

On-demand PrEP, also called 2-1-1 or event-driven PrEP, is a way of taking HIV prevention pills only around the time of sex rather than every day.

PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis)

PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) is emergency medicine taken after a possible HIV exposure to prevent the virus from taking hold.

Poppers

Poppers are a slang name for alkyl nitrite chemicals that people inhale for a brief rush of warmth, lightheadedness, and muscle relaxation, often during sex.

Positive

"Positive" is shorthand for being HIV-positive, meaning a person is living with HIV.

Poz

Community slang for being HIV-positive, used widely within LGBTQ+ and HIV-affected communities.

PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis)

PrEP is HIV-prevention medicine, taken as a daily pill or a periodic shot by people who do not have HIV, that greatly reduces the chance of getting it.

Safer Sex

Safer sex refers to sexual practices that reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

Seroconversion

Seroconversion is the period when the body first produces detectable antibodies after being infected, most often discussed in the context of HIV.

Serodiscordant

Serodiscordant describes a couple in which one partner is living with HIV and the other is HIV-negative.

Serosorting

Serosorting is choosing sexual partners, or deciding whether to use condoms, based on a partner's HIV status.

Slamming

Slamming is the intravenous injection of drugs, usually crystal methamphetamine, in a sexual setting, a practice within the wider chemsex scene.

Sober

Sober means living without alcohol or other drugs, and within LGBTQ+ communities it names both a personal practice and a growing recovery-focused subculture.

Status

Status usually refers to a person's HIV status, meaning whether they are HIV-positive or HIV-negative.

Suicide Hotline

A suicide hotline is a free, confidential crisis service, reached by phone, text, or chat, that connects people in emotional distress or at risk of suicide with a trained counselor.

Tina (T)

Tina, also called T, is a slang term for crystal methamphetamine, a powerful and highly addictive stimulant that circulates in some gay and bisexual men's sex and party scenes.

U=U

U=U means Undetectable equals Untransmittable: a person with HIV who takes treatment and keeps an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV to sexual partners.

Undetectable

Undetectable describes a person with HIV whose viral load has been suppressed by treatment to a level too low for standard lab tests to detect.

Untransmissible

Untransmissible reflects the U=U message that a person with HIV who keeps an undetectable viral load through treatment cannot sexually transmit the virus.

Viral Load

Viral load is the amount of virus, most often HIV, present in a person's blood, and keeping HIV's viral load undetectable through treatment means it cannot be sexually transmitted.

World Professional Association for Transgender Health, The

WPATH is an international professional organization that publishes the Standards of Care, the widely used clinical guidelines for the health of transgender and gender-diverse people.

Yeztugo

Yeztugo is the brand name for lenacapavir used as HIV prevention, a twice-yearly injection that protects against sexually acquired HIV.