discussion comment
a year ago
Always use a condom with strippers, escorts, etc. The chances you will contract a bacterial or viral infection if you don't wear one is high.
When people online claim you can just take antibiotics afterwards and be fine are only somewhat correct (more on viruses later) - infections can be persistent, needing multiple 10-14 day (and occasionally longer) courses, depending on what you find yourself at the ED or urgent care with (we'll just assume you want to avoid your family physician on this one). You'll need to get STI testing afterwards, regardless, because you don't want an asymptomatic infection to spread over time. And this is assuming you aren't especially unlucky and contract an antibiotic-resistant strain (not common, but still possible, especially if visiting sex workers), in which case you'll likely be referred to a urologist and won't enjoy the heavy hitters he puts you on.
There isn't much you can do about viruses after the fact. Do you really want lesions on your pecker (or worse, on your prostate or in your bladder) the rest of your life, over a BJ? You especially don't want to catch any form of hepatitis, which isn't uncommon among sex workers, especially escorts and porn actresses. And, this doesn't even take into account any number of circulating viruses that aren't generally considered 'STIs,' some of which can give you life-long inflammation in your urological organs.
In short, the 'monger' sites you mentioned are generally full of people that don't know anything about medicine, infectious disease, and frankly may be more prone to risk-taking behaviors than the general population. Of course they'll tell you there's nothing to worry about!
Even with a condom, there's still a (albeit smaller) risk of an STI-causing microbe passing through the barrier, into your urethra. Say, Syphilis, chlamydia, and, most common, unknown (your doctor will just throw a broad spectrum antibiotic at it and hope it works, while internally chuckling or as commonly being annoyed he or she didn't leave you behind during residency training). Testing often doesn't even catch the particular microbe(s) - plural because, yes, carrying multiple infections isn't uncommon either. Your swollen balls and urethra will be plenty confirmation.
In short, despite the braindead logic some with no medical education prefer to cite online that sex workers are safer to engage in sex with because they get tested more often (not necessarily true, especially in the US), take what you knew to be true in middle and high school and extend it out by a decade or more - if someone is sleeping with dozens or hundreds of men in a period of months (and, yes, BJs count), do you really think that person is less likely to pass something on to you than a person in the general population?
The answer is no.