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Risk and Vulnerability Related to Common STIs/RTIs
In addition to these individual behaviors or characteristics, it is becoming increasingly apparent that certain social, economic, and political forces make people vulnerable to infection. Some factors that affect social vulnerability include gender inequities, economic power, youth, cultural constructs, and government policies. Women, in particular, may be vulnerable to infection because of gender inequities and lack of power within sexual relationships, which make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to negotiate safer sex with partners. Lack of economic power can lead to vulnerability as some women are forced to enter into sex work or to form temporary partnerships to barter sex for economic survival. Furthermore, because of women's greater biological vulnerability to infection transmission, women face greater risk of infection than men. Young people of both sexes are vulnerable to infection for many reasons— social, biological, behavioral, and demographic. For example, young men often face tremendous pressure to be sexually active and are, therefore, less likely to seek information about how to protect themselves and their partners for fear of appearing inexperienced. Young women, on the other hand, may be particularly vulnerable for biological reasons (less mature tissues may be more readily permeated or damaged) and for social reasons, including lack of economic resources or negotiating power. Given the weight of these social and structural forces, the standard risk factors are not necessarily predictive of who has an STI.
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A variety of demographic, behavioral, and social factors place people
at risk for becoming infected with sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
The following are traditionally cited as risk factors for STIs:
