Commentary
Dr. Boyce: How Black Denial is Creating an STD Epidemic
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, KultureKritic.com
When NaturallyMoi.com released an article stating that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that nearly half of all black women were infected with herpes, I was intrigued by the responses that I saw. At least half of the reactions were negative attacks toward the authors for even reciting information from the CDC, as if they’d worked overtime to paint a negative portrayal of black women. It should be noted that a high infection rate among black women does not imply that black women are more promiscuous than anyone else. It might actually be the promiscuity of men that is the source of the problem (i.e. the good girl who loves bad boys and catches whatever the bad boys bring home while they’re out “being bad”).
I was even attacked for sharing the article on my Facebook page. Somehow, by sharing information that I felt to be a critical public health alert, I was somehow conspiring with “the man” to make black women look bad. Sorry, but I was trying to protect my daughters from a world that is designed to destroy them. I believe what the CDC has to say, because I’ve seen too much evidence to support the conclusions. If we don’t like what we see in the mirror, we can’t get angry at the mirror, and just telling people what they want to hear doesn’t lead to much progress either.
Finally, there were those who felt that the data was simply a lie.
“I don’t believe this BS,” some people would say. Another person mentioned that none of her five girlfriends have herpes, so the study can’t be real. Someone else even felt that the data had to be inaccurate because they hadn’t tested her specifically, meaning that they couldn’t have tested everyone. Without insulting this person, I’d just encourage them to take a statistics class, which would help us realize why you don’t have to test an entire population in order to come to a conclusion (I humbly submit that I taught Math and Statistics at the college level for a few years, so I’ve studied these methods closely). Every poll, survey or statistical analysis is based on a random sample and various tests are performed to ensure that the sample is adequate enough to get an inference on the population. The CDC has lots of good statisticians who know how to perform this exercise carefully.
So, assuming that the CDC has not conspired with the KKK to hurt black people’s feelings by falsely telling us that we have an STD issue on our hands, I’d like to lay out a few reasons why we might actually have the perfect storm among us that creates the conditions for a significant STD problem:
1) Serious and persistent denial: I am constantly stunned by how many black people there are who simply don’t want to hear bad news. They laugh when you mention that greasy food can give you heart disease. They don’t want to hear you tell them that partying instead of studying is going to cause them to drop out of school. They even get angry when you suggest that perhaps Whitney Houston’s decision to use drugs might have played a role in her “shocking and totally unexpected” death. Many of “us” also don’t want to hear you say that there is an STD epidemic in black America. They especially don’t want to hear this from a white person.
The black church is largely responsible for creating a culture of silence on STDs, since many church leaders talk about sex as if it did not exist. The stigma of being the “good church girl” with an STD is too much for many black women to bear, so the majority of those affected won’t even share this information with their closest friends. Men can be even worse, since a lot of men never get tested in the first place. So, the most horrible stories are never told and many of those affected suffer in silence, leaving the next generation to make the same mistakes because no one ever told them any better.
2) Prison Rape: Soooo, you think that all the men being raped in prison are being raped by STD-free men wearing condoms? Do you think that these men aren’t having sex with women when they come home? Do you think these men are going to readily tell their female partners what they were doing behind bars? Do you not think that every felon whose been entirely marginalized from job opportunities, voting rights and anything else worth living for is going to always be incredibly careful, thoughtful and disciplined in his sexuality? Keep dreaming.
The prison rape problem has long been something that people joke about at cocktail parties, but it’s more serious than you might think. Not only does it constitute cruel and unusual punishment for those who’ve been incarcerated, it also increases the spread of STDs once the men come home and sleep with women with whom they associate.
Most men have a pretty strong appetite for sex, and it’s not uncommon for a man (especially an attractive one) to have sex with quite a few women. Also, as a black man, I can say that many of my brothers are not very quick to go to the doctor for anything other than a missing body part. Therefore, it’s not entirely inconceivable that a great deal of infection is occurring once men leave jails and prisons, especially if they do not have or choose not to utilize adequate healthcare and get full STD screenings.
This is not to put the entire STD problem on the backs of prison inmates (we already have a witch hunt in place against gay men without even considering the role that heterosexual men are playing in all of this). Instead, it’s to say that the mass incarceration problem in America is one that affects the black community in more ways than one. When a man has nothing to live for and is living a dangerous life to begin with, he is not always going to take the time to protect the sexual health of women that he’s sleeping with. Not all inmates are affected by these psychological maladies, but we know quite a few who are.
3) A lack of testing: You hear a lot of people brag about getting an HIV test, but how many people mention that they’ve gotten a full STD screening? You do realize that there are other diseases out there besides HIV right? In fact, many of these diseases, such as HPV, can kill both men and women. So, you meet that really handsome guy that every other girl wants, and he makes it clear that he’s not committed to you (which translates to the fact that he can do whatever he wants). You responsibly ask him his HIV status. He impresses you by showing up with a clean bill of health from his doctor, disclosing his latest negative HIV test results (assuming you wait to see the results before having sex, which many people do not), and you take the condom off (for either oral, vaginal or anal intercourse – a condom is supposed to be worn for all three, right?). Do you think you’re completely safe? Think again.
The bottom line? There are other diseases out there besides HIV and people are catching a lot of them. Also, if you like that man, chances are that other women like him too. Finally, if he’s not a man that is careful about his sexual health or buys into the BS notion that black men are supposed to sleep around, chances are that he’s got a disease that even he doesn’t know anything about. When my friend (a strong black man who is not part of the “CDC conspiracy”) went to a barbershop and tested 20 black men for Chlamydia, he found that over half of them were infected and had no idea. Why? Because people don’t get regularly tested for that disease until they start showing serious and painful symptoms.
4) Hip Hop “playa playa” culture: Sooo, you think that a little boy who grows up hearing Lil Wayne and other rappers measure their manhood by how many women they sleep with every year isn’t going to be influenced by these messages? You don’t know a single handsome man who brags about his “way with the ladies,” running from house-to-house and woman-to-woman every other night? You don’t think that perhaps it’s possible that, the same way one man can impregnate several women, that this same man can’t also infect several women too? Let’s please do the math people: a man sleeping with lots of women who rarely gets a full STD screening has a very good chance of being a carrier of one of the major STDs (the same is true for women who like to “get around”). Also, any woman sleeping with him and touching his genitalia with either her mouth, anus or vagina has a good chance at being infected. That’s just a simple fact. Excuse me for not using standard Dr. Boyce language, but when people are dying, I tend to believe that honesty is the best policy – I am also equally honest with my daughters.
5) People not asking enough questions: For too many men, the question of whether or not you should sleep with a woman is simple: “Is she attractive?” If the answer is “yes,” then you’re supposed to have sex with her. Many women, unfortunately, have adopted the same irresponsible policy. A lot of fleeting relationships come and go without any knowledge of whose genitals were there before your own. Conversations about STD screenings and HIV status tend to dampen the mood, and that person who is “fine as hayell” brings so much pleasure into your bones that you might be tempted to believe that the things you’re doing together can’t possibly hurt you. This is what leads to disaster.
6) Fewer people getting married: I am not bible thumping and I am not saying that everyone needs to run out and get married (I’ve never been married myself and most marriages, quite honestly, end in divorce). I am referring to a simple fact: Most people have more sexual partners when they are single than they do when they are married (at least that’s the way it’s supposed to be); this is especially true for black Christian women (of course there are exceptions).
Fewer black women getting married means that single men have more pickings to fulfill their sexual desires, and women are having more relationships too. Just think about that single, 30-something girlfriend you have who always seems to have a story about relationship drama or a sexual experience she’s had with a man that she’s known for less than six months. In each case, she’s taking on years of sexual baggage from all the women (and/or men) that this person has been with before her. But in many cases, it’s “out of sight, out of mind.”
7) The imbalance between women and men: Because of the prison industrial complex creating felons left and right, poor inner city educational systems, a lack of employment opportunities and racist media creating hoop dreams for too many black men, there is an imbalance between marriage-ready black men and women. Women grow up dreaming of becoming corporate executives or attorneys, while too many brothers grow up trying to become LeBron James. So, after his hoop dream is busted and he has no education to fall back on, many men become marginalized by society.
The imbalance between educated black men and women changes the manner by which men and women respond to one another. Many men “get around” more than they normally would because they’ve got so many options, and many women accept things that they might not normally consider. This creates an environment where a small number of men may end up infecting a large number of women, because the women don’t halfway care whether the man is already taken or not.
For men, think about stories that “your boys” tell you about the women they’ve been sleeping with. Or, think about that woman who tells horror stories about the man she was with who ran through “side chicks” like they were going out of style. That’s where diseases are being spread, in these short, casual relationships, as some people move from partner-to-partner, claiming to be looking for something that may not even exist. It might be fun, and I am not here to judge, but I firmly believe that you can’t just do whatever you want, with whomever you want, and think that there aren’t significant risks involved.
A scientist once told me that women have a psychological tendency to notice the more attractive men over the less attractive ones. This means that many men in the “attractive” category tend to be chased by all the same women. If that man has been given a license to mate as much as he wants with whomever he wants, some of these men can become walking time bombs, like the married pastor in Atlanta who was accused of sleeping with women in his church, even though he allegedly knew that he had HIV.
Perhaps it’s time that we all wake up. This stuff is real. Stop believing this is a conspiracy theory and get tested….for everything. The data is accurate and there really is a problem. Ignoring this issue and not talking about it won’t make it go away, and we must all make sure that we’re healthy. Stop living in denial.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. To check out Dr. Watkins in the Janks Morton Film, Hoodwinked, please visit this link.
Reggie
August 31, 2018 at 10:59 pm
Sorry, there’s no empirical evidence to validate your claim. I suggest you do a lil more digging cause its disturbing that you go by the CDC as if they are law. They don’t have any evidence to verify their claims. ITs not a conspiracy, its about $$$$.
Reggie
August 31, 2018 at 11:01 pm
House of numbers – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p-ttLfkZHQ
FDA – War on Health – Gary Null
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VibVIRsHnI0
Denial, Denial, Denial
August 31, 2018 at 11:41 pm
I saw the article on NaturallyMoi.com and wanted to comment there, but…. I am kind of shocked at how much people believe that this is a conspiracy against black people. It is not! It’s something that is prevalent here in America, period. The reason that a lot of people are not aware of their HSV status is because, as you mentioned above, it is not included as part of the regular STD screen in most offices. You have to ask for the full screen. The statistics are REALLY alarming. Technically herpes can’t kill you (unless you are a baby), HOWEVER, it makes people more susceptible to HIV. Also, the only false information that I saw between both yours and Naturally Moi’s post is that wearing a condom can protect you from transmission of the disease. THIS IS FALSE. This is a skin to skin and does not involve the transmission of bodily fluids. So if someone has an outbreak on their leg or lips or the outer lips of the vagina or nutsack, it can still be transmitted.
cecilia
September 1, 2018 at 12:17 am
Actually, I think the article is pretty accurate. I work in this field of HIV & AIDS. STIs are on the rise. In Hartford CT alone, recent statistics saw an rise in the incidence of Gonorrhea of almost 100%. Epidemiologists tell us that Gonorrhea is becoming resistant to the treatment used right now and with the next yr, they will need to determine another treatment method for it. In recent yrs it was Chlamydia. I think people need to ask more questions about their partners sexual history, get tested, treated if necessary, and protect themselves moving forward or remain abstinent.
John Doe
December 11, 2021 at 3:33 am
It’s simple math really, these numbers are skewed. Quite simply there are more white people so if a 100,000 black people have an STD, versus 100,000 white people, the percentages will be lower for white people because there are more of them.
Derrick
September 1, 2018 at 5:55 am
Another article to down-grade Black people.
We must remember, the CDC was behind the aids man-made viurs program!!!
Can’t y’all see what these mad white scientist are trying to do to our people…make us look like we’re the only people with dis-eases, but they are the very people INJECTING us with these chemi(KILLS)!!!
PB Short
November 18, 2018 at 9:50 pm
You are correct…
Prisons will house men who have aids, period…
The inmates sued many years ago during the late 1980’s concering this very issue, and besides, do you think that the white man is going to allow something like this to tear down their multi-billion dollar per year prison system?
I guess the black race can be fooled and scared into believing anything…BECUASE the WHITE MAN – aka Perverted Catholic said “SO”, and that makes it true…
sandy
September 1, 2018 at 6:25 am
I for one believe that most people in general are in denial about STD’S. However, in the Black Community in which I am apart of denial, shame and fear has created an enviorment of 100% std free world! Never mind the married spouse’s cheating, the promiscuous young men and women and teen, tweens, same sex relationships, gang initiations and affiliations….all of this takes place on a regular and everyone amazingly stay healthy I think not. Black people, there is really a spike in STD’s. We don’t want to talk about that, we don’t want to talk about depression, and other mental illnesses, you better not mention suicide (that would surely cost you) , we don’t want to talk about NOTHING! And that’s why their are so many sick people. I must admit I was shocked to the such an article, not because It angered me because it didn’t, I was shocked because no one talks about it. Now that its smacked some with a reality check they are coming out fighting…to stay in denial.
sandy
September 1, 2018 at 6:28 am
Forgive the typo’s 🙂
Cynthia Williams-Eatman
September 1, 2018 at 9:32 am
People need to recognize and stop being angry because they feel that ‘the white man” is injecting us with chemicals but stand up and take charge and be concerned about out heath!!! Personally, individually, as a whole….this is serious business!!!! Are they serious? Don’t they want to live…..denial is not an aption….this is a reality!!!
Cynthia Williams-Eatman
September 1, 2018 at 9:34 am
There comes a time when people need to be realistic and stand up for themselves and be concerned about their health…..this is a reality……… denial is not an option!!!
AMAZINGGRACE
September 1, 2018 at 10:26 am
Sad to say, but a lot of people won’t be happy until the have blue waffle STD…. STD’s are real serious and if you don’t expect your new or old partner to get checked out every 6 to 9 months for this, as well as yourself, then that is just not cool, period!
Joe
September 1, 2018 at 10:48 am
To all those on here with negative comments towards this article, I have but one question…is this subject something that you would actually want to be WRONG about???!!! I mean wouldn’t it be wise to err on the side of caution on this one? CDC says half of black women have herpes…maybe they do, maybe they don’t…but I’d rather assume they do, be cautious, and stay safe than to blow it off as a lie…then find out it wasn’t…the HARD WAY.
And furthermore…please explain to me how this conspiracy works again…they want to destroy black people…so they WARN us by giving us the statistic that could potentially cause us to change our behavior and protect ourselves instead of just letting us continue doing what we were already doing…which was approaching sex/stds with a “it can’t/won’t happen to me” attitude. Doesn’t sound like a very smart plan to me. I feel where some of you are coming from but I submit to you…EVERYTHING IS NOT A FRICKIN CONSPIRACY!!!!
Shameful
September 1, 2018 at 11:18 am
If anything, the people saying the CDC reports are false make me think those people are part of the conspiracy to make black folks think we are not at the tipping point of a serious STD epidemic.
Katie
September 1, 2018 at 11:01 am
Thank you , Boyce ,People should wake up, most of the sexually transmitted diseases are not curable.It causes pain that is indescripable.Humans are sexually active.Most Men are still interested in having sex as soon as possible in relations because they believe you must know if the sex is good enough to stay around.Some women are just as stupid.Reality is the truth no matter what you believe about the CDC.
usef bey
September 1, 2018 at 11:19 am
Yeah just like AiDS is not man mde?…or designed for popullation control…listen I hear the folks who make good sense about this article but then start talking wreckless. There are many CONspiracies against the “black” population always has been. Yeah some how to do negroes don’t wanna hear it, but at the same time I also know CDC has a history behind it that is not trustworthy or as reliable…just look at the Vaccine situation…and VAERS not reporting accurately or misleading info. Yes stds are a prblem but it would be a stretch to say half the population has it, why exactly half tho?…this is like the whole false positive on the HIV exams..where if u have any other illness in u, it will cause a positive reading…they still won’t openly admit this, but continue to misdiagnos people ith it and then put out reports that say we are the ones who have it the most…we blacks are always beingtold we are sick and dying what’s new…the problem isall this back and forth with intellectuals and commoners who swear they know how shit is based on one article
Elizabeth
September 1, 2018 at 11:39 am
I am one of those angry about the statistics because African-Americans are always portrayed as poor, nasty, ugly and now diseased and you can find people like this in all races.
I just wish our young women would stop and think and make him wrap it up before sex. You may take birth control to keep from reproducing another human, but what about your body.
African-American women in some instances are so desperate for a mate until they forget to think of themselves…you don’t want to get sick.
I know men go to jail and some come out and become valuable citizens, but our women have got to STOP dealing jailhouse men. They don’t have much of a future and do you want that type of man as a father figure for your children?
We don’t like to talk about it but men sleep with other men in jail, do you want to sleep with this type of man? I don’t, learn to be intelligent, moral and responsible.
Fabrienne
September 1, 2018 at 12:17 pm
I think it is good that we learn the statisitcs I would rather see the ungly truth rather than live a lie. I dont like how we are potrayed as nasty and trifflin but we have a responsability to ourselves to becareful and think about our actions before blindly going into a situation just becaue it looks good.
James M Deshotels
September 1, 2018 at 2:12 pm
We always have to remember: many behaviors that were adaptive back in the day — and often still are — are not always helpful. Thank God, the CDC is one government agency one can usually trust (taking into account its philosophical biases). Our apparent ‘negative’ characteristics are not always our fault: but denying them only makes them worse. At the same time, our failure to accept them & fight them (=denial) makes it easier for those who hate us to hurt us.
Walter
September 1, 2018 at 2:37 pm
Well, here we go again. Damn first half the black women had aids, now they all have herpes. Remember the Atlanta child deaths? They said it was Wayne Wilson a black man 5’6 135lbs soakin wet who wore coke bottle glasses. Right after the Atlanta child deaths, Aids apeered, they said it came form Africa and it could be passed on by sexual contact or any body fluids and they said the down low brotha was spreading it. Well have anyone ever ask why was it never epidemic in San Francisco the gay capital. And most white men have been down low closet freaks for 100’s of years, sexing animals. Sorry but saying all that to say. Aids was invented in Atlanta at the CDC, lies were spread to create more of a division between Black men and women,, we already had the light skin dark skin divide, now make Male against Female, and it has made women say I don’t need a man, men say I want waste time with just 1 women mean while your kids are loseing their minds trying to raise theirselves. DAMN
Walter
September 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm
TRUST THE CDC, you’ve brainwashed, remember the syphillis study
Walter
September 1, 2018 at 2:40 pm
@James M Deshotels, you’ve been brainwashed
Joia
September 1, 2018 at 3:11 pm
How is out right promiscuity a conspiracy? The numbers speak for themselves, even with the not new systemic genocide plotted against black folks, we aid and abet with our own demise every chance we get. Crabs in a barrel. This is also why most of our youth getting killed are the “winners” — the straight A students, the well mannered, ambitious and proud ones. Others are jealous of them, and slaughter them just as they see the black adults being jealous of other blacks trying to do positive things.
Even without factoring in those males on the “down low” as they call it, there is realistically about a 1:100 ratio of men to women when you take into consideration the incarcerated, those black males who do not want black women if they are heterosexual, because they have “arrived” and don’t need black women to take care of them; those too far gone on drugs and alcolhol and/or liviing in the streets and those who are openly gay, just plain hate women or homosexual.
In the prime of life time for babyboomers and before, men used to routinely walk down the street holding hands with their lover because they were claiming each other as theirs, now that’s not feasible because he’s claiming 25-30 others that he’s have sex with. The only time I see a black man holding hands with a woman now is if she’s of another race. Most males, of all ages, are bored with black women and just aren’t excited about us like they once were before we stooped to this new cultural low.
And gay males will routinely me you that most of their lovers are married men and/or men you would be surprised to know they’re sleeping with, due to their status, who are also their lovers and highly respected men in the community.
Problem multiplied is that blacks are not only becoming extinct because we are in denial about promiscuity and the diseases that it creates, but also because we are in denial about everything.
We have become a race of people who refuse to grow up, who refuse to face the facts about our state of emergency situation on all fronts. No one wants to be the adult in the room anymore. Consequently, here we have a pandemic of:
1) fratricide in our communities, killing off one another like flies;
2) self hate — hatred of our hair, our skin, our own self and own kind;
3) an educational crisis, especially as relates to the 50% high school drop out rate, and the STEM disciplines as a mandatory imperative being ignored;
4) apathy – not caring about anything but ourselves — not our children, not our aging parents, and our overall communities;
5) the need to rekindle the civil rights movement into an action versus rhetoric campaign, minus the sell out pretending to be actiivist who care about the community when in fact they are merely pimping the community with bs rhetoric and being paid under the tables to keep us “stuck on stupid;”
6) the new social pattern of the nouveau riche blacks distancing themselves from the black masses and snubbing same, as if that would make whites love them more and therefore, become immune from racism themselves as they buy they new “friends;”
7) lost of our black owned businesses due to the tendency of blacks lusting after garbage “designer brand” labels, products and businesses;
8) a staggering 70+% one parent home and single [as in no husband now, and probably eve] female rate;
9) pimps in the pulpits, not only playing black women for chumps, but taking their hard earned money, and fornicating with both them and their sons — pretty much most of them and their sons; and worshipping false gods – holding investment and money worshipping services versus God worshipping services.
This is called SODOMON AND GORMORRAH.
Dark Chocolate
September 1, 2018 at 3:15 pm
I have seen this kind of denial in person. It is dangerous. Now, next to having too many babies too soon; there is another reason for black men to look elsewhere for a wife. When will it end!!!
Someone Please Read the Article
September 2, 2018 at 9:55 pm
Results of a nationally representative study show that genital herpes infection is common in the United States. Nationwide, 16.2%, or about one out of six, people 14 to 49 years of age have genital HSV-2 infection. Over the past decade, the percentage of Americans with genital herpes infection in the U.S. has remained stable.
Genital HSV-2 infection is more common in women (approximately one out of five women 14 to 49 years of age) than in men (about one out of nine men 14 to 49 years of age). Transmission from an infected male to his female partner is more likely than from an infected female to her male partner.
Dark Chocolate please read the last statement carefully. Infected male gives to female more than a female gives to a male.
The article said nothing about black women. Although this is nothing to brag about we are seeing stable numbers.
People, I do not care who writes what, or what authority they acknowledge–do your research before you react or respond.
shouldofpickyourowncotton
September 1, 2018 at 4:12 pm
i finally found something i can agree with dr boyce watkins eventhough i consider him A black nation hater.I GET CHECKED EVERY 3 MONTHS AND I REQUIRE THAT MY PARTNER GET CHECKED.I don’t believe that black people are having more sex than whites but i do believe we do not go get checked for stds and hiv very often,PERIOD.SO if u care about your sexual health PLEASE GO GET CHECKED.THERE are plenty of free clinics that will check you for free!! CONSPIRACY AND IGNORANCE WILL GET U KILLED!!
KCW
September 1, 2018 at 4:51 pm
The CDC did not state that half of black women have the herpes virus. It said that herpes is on the rise, 1 of 6 Americans have it, and that the highest rates can be found among African Americans and women. People read for yourselves. Information is readily available on the Internet.
Nicole Davis
September 1, 2018 at 8:45 pm
All I can say about this article is knowledge is power! I appreciate any and all information given to me in an effort to educate me! Thanks!!
shellie
September 1, 2018 at 9:00 pm
Dr. Boyce, you are a hypocrite! Aren’t you in the documentary a “Hoodwinked”? Pick a side, would ya!
ana
September 1, 2018 at 10:04 pm
Take care of Your Self and Your Health,But Do Your Own Research. Herpes, Gonorrhea, Syphillis are All Sexually Transmitted Disease,That Can Affect Anyone,Regardless of race.
PinkRose
September 1, 2018 at 10:04 pm
Dark chocolate, you should change your name to dark stupid, because the behavior of BLACK MEN are at the heart of why STD’s are so prevelant in our communities.
BW are the ones who should be looking outside their race for a mate.
KCW
September 2, 2018 at 4:53 am
The truth is that the CDC did not state that half of black women have the herpes virus. It said that herpes is on the rise, 1 of 6 Americans have it, and that the highest rates can be found among African Americans and women. People read for yourselves. Information is readily available on the Internet. Also, there’s evidence that this study is flawed, although it is true that STD rates are generally high and that we should become more vigilant in preventing the transmission.
Robert Mason
September 2, 2018 at 9:19 am
I live in DC and i believe the story. Now where can i get a full STD test for free in DC?
Here is the information you requested
September 2, 2018 at 9:58 pm
Contact Information
Clinic Location:
Southeast STD Clinic
D.C. General Health Campus
19th and Massachusetts Ave, SE
Building #8
Washington, DC 20003
Click here for a Google Map.
Walk-in Hours:
Mon-Fri 8:15am-3:15pm
Telephone:
202-698-4050
Additional Contact Numbers:
General Information: 202-698-4050
School-based Screening results (chlamydia & gonorrhea): 202-478-1411
Provider Consultation Line: 202-442-4705
Provider STD Reporting: 202-442-4771, 202-727-4934 (fax)
shell johson
September 3, 2018 at 6:19 am
Robert… I live in the VA area, the reason why black woman are getting such high STD’s because of the men out in the DMV area who travel the beltway & DC to sleep with mutiple woman. Men are not getting teseted while they are sleeping 5-10 woman at a time. Woman are not using condoms or caring what disease a man may have. The biggest downfall is the DL men out here also sleeping with mutiple men and the swinging couples out in the area.
Sara
September 3, 2018 at 6:49 am
They need to automatically give you a full std screen when you ask to be tested that includes Herpes. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t include it automatically.
shell johson
September 3, 2018 at 9:28 am
Hi Sara,
I was told from my OBGYN doctor that they don’t screen woman for Herpes unless you request it. Reason i.e. to many people have the Herpes virus from the start. Hope this helps
anonymous
September 3, 2018 at 10:22 am
Black women do lead the populaion in STD’s and here’s why:
1- Inner city black women crave the companionship of hard core thugs and jailbirds. So-called middle class black women get their kicks out of rejecting black men who do not attend church, roll around on the floor, and holler “Jesus”. Of course, these populations of men are full of “down low” brothers.
2- Black women are the biggest liars. The first thing black women do when they meet the “new man” is proclaim their innocence. “They can’t remember the last time they had a date”. “They don’t hav sex”. All they do is “go to work, church, and sit at home”.
Truth be told, she was screwing somebody else last week and another brother before that.
3- Black women also demand unprotected sex. I have dated plenty of sisters who have demanded “no condom”. I have plenty friends who have told me the same stories about the sister’s they meet.
4- Black women spend much of their free time mocking God. After “creeping” all week with “who knows who”, black women love to run to church and spend hours screaming and hollering about being “santified”. What do you think the spiritual consequences (karma) are when you take it to that level?
shell johson
September 3, 2018 at 11:36 am
Response to Anonymous……..I so totally disagree with your response about the inner city…. I live in the DC/MD/VA area where the men and woman out here are middle class suburbs where people live…..
1) Men are the liars out here… First of alll they are the ones sleeping with 5-10 woman @ a time… They are not honest about the mutiple relations they have with many woman…
I never knew the term “Friends w/benfits” moving from west coast to this DMV area….
2) Men in this area are married, or DL… Sleeping w/men not telling the woman that they are with other men doing who knows what. Men out here are the ones who don’t want to use condoms…
When you tell a man to use a condom they don’t want to sleep with you.. They will drop you real quick…. When you say “Where is the condom”…. (They all say your the only one)
3)Men will sleep w/anything that walks, or crawls, for sex…
4)Men will not know they have a STD until one of the many partners that they sleep w/go and get tested. Men don’t go to doctors at all.
5)Woman who have medical/clean go and get checked at least 2-times a yr. or 1-time for annual check-up.
6)Wow…. men have to much time on there hands to cheat and be with mutiple woman and they are worst then woman….. They are to busy thinking w/the bottom have.. instead of being with 1 partner…
7)As long as men sleep around black woman will always have high STD rates… “Thanks to black men”
i agree
September 3, 2018 at 4:45 pm
Hi agree with the CDC analysis presented by Dr. Watkins. Why get mad about this issue? Knowledge is power. Let’s err on the side of protecting ourselves. My personal experience is that when I’ve asked men to consistently use a condom they get offended and stop the relationship. I say better safe than sorry.
Julius Kane
September 3, 2018 at 10:43 pm
Good article. Regardless of inflated numbers, conspiracy or outright propaganda-the bottom line is this: Are we black folks going to proceed with caution when it comes to sex? What’s the harm in modifying our behavior patterns? Go to the public health department for yourself and count how many blacks are up in there- then count the poor whites. White folks with a little money wouldn’t be caught dead at the clinic. Yet we’ll still outnumber them.
And yes you would be foolish to trust the CDC. Think about this: The CDC has its headquarters in Atlanta. Yet Atlanta has the highest number of diseased black folks in America. One would think there would be less disease where the CDC headquarters was located,right?
m lewis
November 18, 2018 at 10:24 am
I have to agree I think we’re in denial. I am one of the statistics (but did talk to my GF). Mine is herpes. I was new to the dating scene after years of marriage and death of my husband. I know who I had had sex with and not one of the guys admitted to having it. They may not even know they have it because so many have it w/o symptoms, unfortunately or maybe fortunately I was not lucky enough to be symptomizeless. Learned a hard lesson to late.
PB Short
November 18, 2018 at 9:57 pm
Lets do it this way, STOP SUPPORTING GAY RIGHTS…
Your gay friends have this disease as they continue to intercouse with the perverted catholic to move up financially…
Oh yeah, by the way, VOO-DOO is real TOO…you know how black people claim this bull-crap is real over the last 600 years?
Get real fools…
I will tell you something that is real…Obama targeted HISPANICS and GAYS during his campaign for re-elections…and you did not hear any reports about AIDS…not until after he won…
wil-lie
November 19, 2018 at 12:12 pm
YOU ARE JUST A BUNCH OF DUMB, GREEDY NEGRO’S….AND DON’T KNOW WHATS GOING ON IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD….”AIDS”…IS MELANOMA CANCER THAT COMES FROM THE WHITE PEOPLE OR REAL LIGHT SKIN PEOPLE….THIS IS WHAT AIDS IS…AND I KNOW YALL ARE FUKING WHITE MEN AND WHITE WOMEN SO THE TRUTH ID THE TRUTH….STUDY THE T-CELL….AND WHAT IT DO….STUDY THE B-CELL AND WHAT IT DO……THE CD4 ALLOW THE VIRUS TO INTER INTO THE CELL…AND THIS IS WHERE I’M LOSE AT….WEATHER THE CELL JUST GO ABOUT IT NORMAL WAY OF SEAPRTING….OR DO IT FILL UP WITH SPORNS AND BURST ALL OVER THE PLACE SENDING SPORNS EVERY WHERE…AND KNOW HOW THE CELL ARE STRUCTURE THAT SEEM FAR FEACH…AND THE TIME IT TAKE FOR THE AIDS TO DEVELOPE IN THE BODY…..NO I DID NOT FINISH THE WHITE MAN HIGH SCHOOL..AND I KNOW ANY OF YOU WILL SAY?…..GO RIGHT HEAD….I DID MY STUDY ON THE STREETS HOMELESS….WITH NO ONE AROUND….I FINE YOU CAN GET THE BEST OF THE BEST EDUCATION…..ALL THE BOOKS ARE WRITTEN…AND I FINE WHEN I GOT INTO A PLACE WITH A WOMEN MY STUDY’S DOWN OFF A GREAT DEAL…A GREAT DEAL….BUT ANY WAY…NO I HAVE NEVER DID CRACK COCAINE OK….BUT I HAVE STAYED IN MANY SHELTER WITH THEM…MY REAL PROFESSION IS THE ORAL SEX EDUCATION….AND I HAVE STUDY IN MANY PLACE…STARTED IN MOBILE,AL….AND I HAVE NEVER SEEM ANY ONE WITH THIS KIND OF ORAL SEX EDUCATION…AND I’M BEEN TO MANY PLACE….AND EVERY WHERE I GO…THE WHITE POLICE IS RIGHT THERE LOOKING AT ME….SAYING TO ME I KNOW YOU KNOW HOW….AND I JUST SAY WHAT…THEN THE START TO ATTACK OTHER BLACK FOR ME KNOWING HOW TO EAT THE CHERRY BETTER THEN THEM
wil-lie
November 19, 2018 at 12:15 pm
OBAMA HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH BLACKS ORGANIZING AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IS REAL POWER….YOUR GRANDMOTHER AND GRAND FATHER KNEW THE LAND WAS AND STILL IS ALL POWER..NOT MAN…..SO STOP CALLING OBAMA NAME AND GET THIS SHYT TOGETHER….KEYWORD TOGETHER
Rmw77
November 30, 2018 at 9:52 am
While I agree with the critique and assessment about fewer black people getting married leading to more potential exposures to STDs, the CDC has already disclosed that they oversampled for this study. Specifically, they oversampled from black women from LOWER income areas. Also, they accounted exposures to HSV 2 as actually having HSV 2, which is not the same. As an exposure may never result in actually having the disease. Don’t believe everything you hear, and learn to understand how these statistics are actually derived. I lived with white girls in college. They do the same thing we do, if not more. And how many times do you see a white person with cold sores on their mouths vs black people with cold sores? Wake up black people. Now HIV is a different story. The solution is marriage and monogamy.
TLady
December 9, 2018 at 5:24 pm
True and that’s why you got to be careful, even if they look sooo good and your too blind by the looks, lust, ideas or whatever your interest is in that person. And it’s not even about the good looking ones, it’s unattractive ones too, anybody period!. I wouldn’t say I was promiscuous but at the same time I didn’t mess around with many either and dealing with only five men, but I made the stupidest decisions. I never had an STD until I met number 5 and I guess I was too blind by looks and lust that I didn’t even care after he lied to me but funny thing is I was tested for stds before anything happened but I asked him over and over again about his health and asked him to be tested and he lied, said he would never did but I still laid with him like a dummy and contracted chlamydia and I thank God that it was only that one STD that taught me my lesson but I was not happy about it. I just learned that my life is really not to be played with and so is God!. I tell anybody, to please be careful and to please take your life more seriously because it’s too much going on and too many liars out there to just risk one time of pleasure to loose your life!.
Larry
March 31, 2019 at 2:20 pm
Dr Boyce—just reading half of the responses, it is apparent we are living in a state of denial that can never be eliminated. There are just too many men and women with their heads in the sand to eliminate the problem. I do believe your dissemination of information will save lives. Those intelligent enough to absorb the responsibility placed upon them will survive. Those who choose to live in ignorance will condemn their children.
Obed Norman
June 16, 2019 at 3:15 am
A well written well reasoned and very helpful article. Keep up this kind of well informed journalism. This is useful information we can all use to improve our lives.
D.C.
January 6, 2020 at 1:42 am
see my response on their FB page
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