Hooking Up Online

Keeping It Safe

These days the Internet provides lots of opportunities to connect with new people online...Friendster, MySpace, AIM, etc. Whether you're just looking for someone to chat with or searching for a sexual partner, review the checklist below to ensure you stay safe.

Before you begin to chat:

□ Pick a screen name that appropriately conveys who you are and what you’re looking for online. Set up a new account if necessary.

□ Review what’s in your profile. Remove any information that you don’t want to share with a stranger.

□ Investigate available chat sites. Pick a site that caters to the type of people you are looking to meet.

□ Set your own limits about how much personal information you are willing to disclose. Set up a non-Duke e-mail account, if necessary, to maintain your anonymity when communicating outside a chat venue.

Planning your meeting:

□ Pick a public place to meet. Make sure it’s an easy place to depart from, if you need to.

□ Make sure you have a clear idea of what is going to happen when you meet this person.

□ Decide if anyone is going to accompany you.

□ If it’s clear that your meeting will include sexual activity, consider discussing HIV and STD status and safer sex options.

Preparing to go out:

□ Let someone know you’re going out to meet someone you met online.

□ Arrange an emergency contact.

□ Leave all of the contact information you have for the person you are meeting (i.e. screen name, e-mail address, name, etc.) with someone you trust or somewhere in your room where it could be found.

If you are planning on having sex:

□ Set your limits before going out. Consider how different sexual activities put you at different risks for contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

□ Don’t let alcohol or other drug use cloud your decision making and affect your behavior.

□ Use a new, lubricated condom every time you have vaginal or anal sex.

□ Use a new latex dam every time you provide oral stimulation of the anus on a man or woman. If you don’t have a latex dam, create one by cutting the tip off a condom and slitting it down the side.

□ Use a new, flavored condom, or a non-lubricated condom and flavored lubricant, every time you perform oral sex on a man.

□ Use a new latex dam every time you perform oral sex on a woman. If you don’t have a latex dam, create one by cutting the tip off a condom and then slitting it down the side.

□ Use a new condom every time you insert a sex toy into someone’s body. Change the condom before moving the sex toy into a new body opening, and use a new condom if you are going to move the sex toy from one person to another.

For more information, contact:

Lindsey Bickers Bock, MPH
Health Education Specialist, DukeStudentHealthCenter
lindsey.bickers.bock@duke.edu
919-668-0997