Re: Giving blowjobs without condoms... how safe is it?
STIs can be scary. It's good to be informed, but it's easy to get overwhelmed when reading a lot about them. I'd say it's good to be a little scared. You want to be scared enough that you think about it, but not so scared that you never have sex with anybody.
The chances of getting any STI are complicated by all sorts of factors like what stage the infection is in (for example, herpes is way more contagious during breakouts), the health of your mouth (there's some evidence that smokers contract certain STDs at higher rates) and the specifics of sex acts (did he come in your mouth? did you swallow?). Also, I get the impression that not as much research is devoted to studying the transmission rates for diseases like Gonorrhea because they're usually easily cured by a course of antibiotics.
Like Adidasluvr mentioned, STIs are just a fact of being a sexually active adult. Most people will never have one, but they're not out of the ordinary at all especially for people who've had more than just one partner over their lifetime. I've known some guys with many, many sex partners who have never had one and others with few partners that have. Beyond knowing the risks, it's important to get tested for these sorts of things on a regular basis. How often depends on your activity level, affordability of testing and just general comfort level with it.
Personally, I accept certain risks and act responsibly wrt getting tested. I've been vaccinated against hep B (and tested positive for the antibodies--so the vaccine took), so I don't worry too much about that one. I get tested every six months for the common bacterial infections and accept that some day I may have to take a course of antibiotics should I pick something up. HPV and Herpes worry me a bit more (being that they're viral with no cure and no real test), but I keep in mind that neither is directly life threatening and both can be managed without nearly as much trouble as HIV.
On top of all that, I take certain precautions (condoms always for anal sex, no cum in my mouth) and I try not to sleep around with guys I don't know. Almost all the guys I've been with have my contact info. I'd expect them to let me know if they get something or at least have the county public health officials call anonymously on their behalf (they do this in a lot of cities).
I think it's also important to remember that you're being exposed to different diseases all the time inside and outside of sexual contexts. People get colds, the flu, meningitis and hepatitis A (just to list a few) from simple casual everyday things, but all of these can be transmitted when you're physically intimate with somebody too. I've never had a typical STD, but I was really miserable once with strep throat I caught from the only true one night stand I've ever had
