Sharing is caring, but should I be sharing my harness with my girlfriend?
Hey Nerds -
I have a question that I've not been able to find a satisfactory answer to, and I'm hoping you'll be able to help!
My favourite strap-on harness is an Aslan Leather harness that I've had for years now - it is so comfy, and so durable that I haven't even had to use my lifetime warranty ever though I've had it literally forever.
The thing is, my girlfriend recently started using my harness too and it just occurred to me that it might be an issue in terms of STIs and stuff.
Are there safer sex practices that we should be utilizing if we're both wearing the harness sometimes. Is there a type of harness we can sterilize or clean effectively enough to reduce risk? Would it be a better practice for us to each have our own harness?
Thanks!
Sharing is Caring
Dear Sharing,
Wow! Great question!
Unfortunately, porous materials like leather aren't sterilizable - and technically, sterilizing any toy would technically require an autoclave which most folks don't have anyhow. As such it just isn't possible to clean most strap-on harnesses to the point where there is zero risk of something being transmitted.
However, most of the STIs folks are worried about do not survive outside of the human body for very long and actually do require pretty direct skin-to-skin contact or skin-to-fluids contact to transmit to another person. Realistically, the chances of picking anything up from a shared harness are incredibly low especially if you're wiping down the harness (with either a soapy washcloth, wet wipe, etc) and allowing it to dry between uses.
If you're someone who likes to be absolutely sure about such things (and many of us are!) and you'd like to keep sharing a harness, you can always get something like the
Aslan Simple Harness or the
SpareParts Harnesses which are all machine washable!
Or, yes, you could each get your own harness - they do make for wonderful gifts!
I hope this helps!
- Sex Nerd
