When talking about romance, men feel more attracted to women, others feel more attracted to men, and others feel equally attracted to both men and women.  This is a fact in the world and is also no different Cambodia.

If people occasional or permanent sexual partner is a man, they may feel it is more difficult to be open about it because of the stigma and discriminate in this society.

What differs is how they can face with their family, their friends and their community in general about that intimate in part of their life.

As a result they are poorly informed about health problems as well as reproductive health and STDs.

It is difficult to judge if someone is right or wrong just based on their love affairs with people who are the same sex.  And there is no legal yardstick to judge this matter.  The principal thing to remember is people should beer in mind on how to protect themselves from the sexual transmitted diseases (STD) and HIV infection whether their partners are men or women.

What are the risks of HIV infection and other STIs, when a man has sex with another man?

Having sex with a man can involve in variety of sexual practices such as:  
     • Masturbation (by hand)
     • Masturbation (between thighs)
     • Oral sex
     • Anal sex

Among these practices, anal sex is a higher risk sexual practice in terms of vulnerability to HIV and sexual transmitted disease, because the anus is narrow and cannot produce natural fluids such as the vagina does to facilitate sexual practice.  It may also hurt and sometimes have some cuts and cause bleeding.

Therefore, people should think about using condoms regularly with a water-based lubricant.  This substance is a kind of fluid which can facilitate sexual intercourse and most importantly can protect you from condom damage.

If you want to have sex, you should have condoms and water-based lubricants; you can find them in many places such as:

• Pharmacies

• STDs clinic

• Health Centers

• Birth Spacing Clinic

• Some NGOs in this list è 
  Table of organizations (.pdf)

The presence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) increases the likelihood of HIV transmission during sexual intercourse.  STIs constitute a neglected epidemic, particularly among women, in whom asymptomatic infections are common.  But infections that are transmitted during anal sex are not just overlooked but sometimes completely invisible.  So much so, that there is very few data available about this serious problem.  In Cambodia, urethral infections amongst MSM were much higher than rectal infections, but overall 27% of MSM were currently infected with at least one STI. Infected males shared one important characteristic: many did not recognize that they might be infected with an STI.  Also, many of the MSM who reported symptoms of STIs did not seek treatment.

If you have unprotected sexual intercourse, you might be at risk of infection with some diseases including:

• Syphilis

• Gonorrhea

• Chlamydia

• Warts

• Herpes

These infections may appear in different places including:

• mouth, throat
• anus
• penis

When you have problem after you have unprotected sexual intercourse, you can talk directly or privately with INTHANOU’s experienced counselors by calling the anonymous and confidential hotline (012 999 008, 012 999 009, 092 914 111).
Through these numbers you can talk about your problem or you can ask where
to find the proper treatment is, or you can post your question to info@inthanou.org

, then you will receive the answer one day
 after.

There is one more thing about MSM counseling, you could call the MSM hotline by using (855) 092 940 490 at 4 pm to 10 pm from Wednesday to Sunday.

If you don’t want to call to any hotline numbers, you could go directly to:

• See doctors

• STDs clinics

•  Hospitals or Health Centers

• Or you can contact others NGOs who work for MSM target  è 
  Table of organization (.pdf)

You don’t need to shy in talking with your doctor, they can help and can give you a special medical attention; it is up to you to give details about what happened in your behavior.