Cast your mind back to your secondary school sex education lessons: does the very thought of it make you cringe?

Because shockingly, putting condoms on bananas and labelling diagrams of vulvas is quite limited. In fact, a 2016 study found that almost three-quarters of pupils are not taught about important issues like consent and at least 95% don’t receive education about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender relationships in school.

Therefore it’s no surprise that when it comes to STIs, even though there were 317,901 diagnoses of STIs made in England in 2020, there’s still plenty we don’t know or get wrong.

Over 70% of men and over 85% of women are classified as having had unsafe sex in the past year, but 64% of men and 73% of women said they perceived themselves as not at all at risk for STIs.

So to mark sexual health week, Valentina Milanova, founder of Daye, a gynaecological health company that is committed to raising the standards in gynae health, is helping Stylist to dispel some of the most common myths.

Sexual health week: 5 common myths about STIs that need to be dispelled