Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs

Humor and serious talk mingle in this candid report on sex and sexually transmitted disease by physician and first-time author Park. Citing “epidemic increases” in transmission in the United States and elsewhere, she explores how modern dating apps like Tinder, with its 10 million daily active users, and Grindr, with its three million, may be contributing. Stressing a need for better sex ed and for public health specialists able to act as “scrappy sex detectives” in tracking down disease transmitters, Park draws awareness to the stigmas still surrounding STDs other than AIDs, such as genital herpes (for which “there are no colored ribbons, quilts, walk-a-thons, or celebrity benefit galas”) and to the “phallocentric” prejudices faced by doctors like Jeanne Marrazzo, who conducted important research into disease transmission among women at a time when the consensus was “no penis, no problem.” In a lighter vein, Park declares herself “the Lorax of pubic hair” after undergoing a painful bikini wax in Rio de Janeiro, and describes volunteering, while at UC Berkeley, as a live cervix model for premeds learning to do pelvic exams. Informative and frank, Park’s account of sex and STDs is ideal both for the curious and for those too embarrassed to ask. (Oct.)