Coconut & Cricket, Chilled Charcoal, Coconutty Chlorophyll. These might not sound like the most appetizing smoothie choices, but it's actually surprising how trendy ingredients like activated charcoal and crickets are.
Yet, even though people are so quick to jump on might-be-healthy foods like these, they're still not taking an easy step to take care of their sexual health.
That's why actress and comedian Whitney Cummings parked a smoothie truck — giving away charcoal, chlorophyll, and cricket smoothies — on a college campus to lure students into a much-needed conversation about STI testing.
The project, called Yes Means Test, was in partnership with the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA), to break down stigma surrounding STI testing.
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"I know a girl drinking camel milk because soy milk is supposedly bad for you now, but only 12% of people get tested for STDs," Cummings told Refinery29.
As was confirmed by the college students Cummings talked to, a big part of the reason young people don't get tested is because they're worried what people would think.
"Some of the students I talked to said 'I'm worried other people are going to see me there [at a campus sexual health center] and think I have something,'" Cummings said. Others expressed similar feelings, with girls especially worrying that getting tested would make them seem like "sluts" or indicate that they are "dirty."
While both men and women had concerns over their image if they were seen getting an STI test, the men felt much more invincible about their risk, Cummings said. The girls she spoke with were shocked, in particular, to learn that untreated chlamydia could lead to infertility over time.
Chlamydia, like gonorrhea and hepatitis B, often shows no symptoms. People could have the STI and never know — unless they were tested.
"I get tested so I'm not worried about myself," one women told Cummings in a video for the project.
"When you said that, that sound, like, sexy," Cummings replied. "You were like 'I get tested.' I'm like 'Damn, she respects herself.'"
And we agree. It does sound sexy, because getting tested — and talking openly with sexual partners about whether or not they've been tested — is the best way to ensure you're having happy, healthy sex.