STIs and sex toy use: can you get STDs from sex toys?

I’ll be honest, answering some of your most frequently Googled questions about sex toys is throwing up quite a lot of worries. It’s not nearly as fun as giving rundowns of the top sex toys available in the sales, or advice on different bondage positions. But I console myself with the knowledge that if I can assuage some of the top concerns you have, that might give you a nudge to pick up a sex toy or two and indulge yourself in panic-free pleasure!

Today’s question is all about STDs – can you get them from sex toy use? And if so, how can you mitigate any risks that might be associated with that?

STIs vs STDs

First thing’s first, let’s do a little bit of disambiguation – like an adult version of Wikipedia. When people talk about this topic, they often use the terms ‘STI’ and ‘STD’ interchangeably, but they are in fact two different things.

STI – Sexually Transmitted Infection. This is what people usually mean when they say ‘STD’ too, and it refers to any infection that you pick up as a result of sexual activity. You can have a sexually transmitted infection without it turning into a sexually transmitted disease, because an infection is the first stage towards getting a disease, but it may not develop into a disease later down the line.

A good example of this is HPV. HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) is one of the most common STIs – it can be caught from having sex, or even skin-to-skin contact with someone who has it. Most of the time, when people have HPV, their immune system will fight it (because bodies are pretty cool like that) and it might disappear without you ever seeing any symptoms. However, sometimes HPV can lead to more serious diseases.

STD – Sexually Transmitted Disease. An STD is when the initial infection develops into a disease. With our HPV example, although often HPV will disappear on its own, it is also known to sometimes cause certain forms of cancer. This is why paying attention to safer sex is really important, and why getting regularly tested (especially if you have multiple partners or a higher risk level) is important too. I don’t want to get too off-topic in this post, because we’re meant to be talking about whether you can get STDs from sex toys, so I’m just going to link you to these incredible resources on safer sex from sex ed website Bish for you to peruse at your leisure.

Can you get STDs from sex toys? (And can you catch STIs from sex toys?)

Now that you know the difference between the two, it’s more a question of whether you can catch STIs from sex toys (and whether these could develop into STDs). The answer is yes, you can: because STIs are contracted through various types of sexual contact (vaginal, oral, anal and skin-to-skin), anything you do with sex toys that you’d also do with your genitals/other body parts does also risk you catching an STI.

But don’t panic! The likelihood of you transmitting STIs with sex toys is not higher than the likelihood if you’re having sex without toys, it just means that as with all sexual activity you have to be aware of the risks and take sensible steps to mitigate them.

How to have safer sex with sex toys

The first thing to note is that if you are only using sex toys on your own, and you are cleaning your sex toys properly, then you won’t be at risk of catching STIs because you have no one to catch them from, and any infection/bacteria that might be present on the toy should be eliminated by your rigorous cleaning routine.

If you’re sharing sex toys with someone else, you need to make sure that the material the sex toy is made of is non-porous. Materials like metal, glass, and silicone are non-porous – cleaning these toys with antibacterial soap and warm water should be enough to get rid of any potential bacteria and viruses and thus mean they are safe to share. If your sex toys are porous (like many of the masturbators which are made from soft/squishy ‘flesh-like’ material) then those ones shouldn’t be shared between partners.

So if you’re wondering whether you can catch STDs from sex toys, the answer is yes, but as with all sex (and any activity which involves risk!) you can always mitigate the risks by following safety precautions, like those outlined by Bish in the link above, or by the NHS on their website.

Hopefully I’ve assuaged a few of your worries if you were Googling this question and finding yourself stuck. If you’d like to invest in a few sex toys that are non-porous and easy to clean, my personal recommendations are metal butt plugs, glass dildos and silicone dildos like this gorgeous one from Loving Joy.

More in this series

• Is it safe to use sex toys while you’re pregnant?
• How do you use couples sex toys?
• How do sex toys work?