When to tell
If the kissing begins and it's obvious to you that things are going to
progress, or if you've had to stop her, than it's time to tell her. My own
experience is that most women will respect the hell out of you for telling
them -- and most care more about the relationship than the herpes. My last
girlfriend and I (who broke up for unrelated reasons after being together
for about a year) met and got together a few times. While hooking up one
time (about two weeks into things), she went to put her hands down my pants
and I had to stop her. That's when I looked at her and told her about my
condition. Basically, here's what I said, "I have something to tell you,
something you need to know about. I have relatively common condition that
about 25% of the population has, but only about 5% know they have it. I
have herpes." Then I gave it a second to sink in - she was lost for words -
and said, "I'm telling you this because I care about you, and I don't want
to take any chances with you getting it. I take a pill daily (Famvir) that
keeps me from getting outbreaks and it reduces the chance of spreading it,
but doesn't eliminate the chance of spreading it. If you don't want to date
me, I would totally understand, but I couldn't let this go any further
without you knowing."
This is a smart, professional, beautiful girl I should add. She was lost
for words for what seemed like an hour, but was probably about 10 seconds.
I asked her if she was okay and she just put her finger over her mouth in a
"be quiet" gesture. After a few more seconds she just reached down and
hugged me. At this point I had no idea if she was going to cut bait and run
or not. Then, she asked if there was anything she could do get me to
climax! I told her she could use her hand. Months later in the
relationship, when we were reminiscing, she told me that when I had stopped
her and told her of my condition, she realized that I was honest, that I was
responsible, and that I truly cared about her -- in her words that was when
she thought of me as a "man" (vs. a "guy"). Basically, it was me having the
conversation with her that took her feelings for me to the next level --
imagine that!
I had a similar experience once before too with another girl which I had
posted here at the time. Basically guys, if you tell the girl, and if she's
a quality girl, she won't run off -- she'll only feel that much closer to
you and have that much more respect for you for having the balls to tell her
(yes, they seem to understand that it's a tough conversation to bring up so
early.)
My only advice is this... when you tell them, be cool and be confident. If
you seem panicked or stressed or scarred, they will too -- after all, if it
freaks you out than why shouldn't it freak her out. If you're calm and in
control - than it must not be that bad - or at least manageable.
Good luck.
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