“At 18, sat waiting to speak to a specialist i could not even begin to imagine telling her that I had herpes. Once I had explained my concerns over my recent diagnosis to her, she looked me square in the eyes and told me my sex life simply would not be the same anymore. I couldn’t begin to understand what she was telling me. That my skin was now my most unattractive quality, the thing that surrounded every inch of me was untouchable.

All I wanted was to be touched. I just wanted to be held. But even the lack of knowledge from my mother left me explaining that towels were not plagued and that I did not need a private bathroom. And I started to hate body in such an intense way I made myself untouchable.

Now I have learned my skin is like a shield and the thing it keeps off me are those who are unwilling to learn. And I simply do not want to be intimately touched by those unwilling to learn how to touch me and love me in the skin that I am in.”