Safe sex, or safer sex, means practices that cut the odds of STIs and unintended pregnancy. Condoms, dental dams, gloves, regular testing, PrEP where it fits, vaccination for HPV and hepatitis, and honest partner counts all sit in the kit. Abstinence from specific acts is also a method, if it is freely chosen.

No method is poetry. Perfect use is rare. Combining methods covers more of the messy real week. A long monogamous stretch with two recent negative tests is a different risk picture than a festival weekend. Update the plan when the picture updates.

Shame makes people lie, and lying is the least safe practice on the list. A calm question about last tests works better than a quiz designed to catch someone out.