Lottie Moss, the model and sister of Kate Moss, and Vas J Morgan, the TV personality, are on a mission to open up the conversation around STIs{
'I think it has a stigma that, if you have an STI then you've had sex with a lot of people - which it doesn't matter if you want to or not - but also it's completely wrong.' Lottie tells Grazia on a Zoom call with Vas. 'Almost all STIs are treatable and manageable,' adds Vas. 'It's as easy as catching the flu or catching or any other virus that's out there - it isn't shameful. So if you have sex, and catch something, it's not the end of the world, you can treat it - but the best thing to do is to get tested before you go and have sex, and not fearfully after.'
Both Vas and Lottie think that sex education in this country needs to improve, and that, in some schools, the emphasis hasn't been on safe sex - rather just trying to avoid sex itself for as long as possible. 'STIs are on the rise in young adults, in teenagers, and that's because the importance of safe sex isn't taught,' Vas says. 'And the the acknowledgement and normalization of sex isn't taught. We all have sex, most at a young age.'
One of the things Lottie wishes she'd known, when she was younger, is that women are supposed to enjoy sex too. 'I wish I'd known that women actually get pleasure,' she tells us. 'When I was younger, I literally thought [men] came or whatever, then that was it. I was like, I genuinely didn't know that women could orgasm. I really didn't know, and I think it's so crazy. But like, women aren't taught that women can get pleasure from sex - [it's seen as a] shameful thing for women. But women can enjoy it too.' Growing up gay, Vas worried about catching HIV/AIDs - and he wish he didn't spend as long worrying about it. 'I grew up thinking, as a gay man, I'm going to catch AIDs and die, and that's obviously complete misinformation - but I wish I knew that STIs are not the end of the world,' he says.
Both Vas and Lottie say they're very open talking about STIs and testing with sexual partners, even if Vas says they might be an 'anomaly'. Lottie adds: 'I've never been ashamed by [having those conversations]. I grew up in a very liberal household, like my mum used to walk around naked when I was younger.' But, despite her positive attitude, unfortunately, she says that some men haven't been as kind. 'I've had men trying to shame me, because I've slept with a lot of people - and they like to put that stigma on people, who have sex with a lot of people, that you have an STI, which is completely not true.' And, as she points out, in a lot of cases, it's usually a double standard: 'They've usually slept with a lot of people as well. So I'm like, interesting.'
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