Is Blue Waffle Really an STD?

The internet will tell you that blue waffle is a sexually transmitted disease that girls get when they have too much sex. They'll say that the STD is called blue waffle because it turns girls' vulva and vaginal areas blue. Through some follow-up research, you can find that blue waffle is a fake condition created to try and police female sexuality. There is no sexually transmitted disease that will turn a woman's vagina blue. Blue waffle is not real. 

How did the "fake news" about blue waffle get started? One theory is that someone saw a picture of a woman's vulva after she had used gentian violet to treat a yeast infection. Gentian violet stains skin purple, but it is an effective way of treating both vaginal yeast infections and oral ones. Plus, since it is seen as more natural than other anti-fungal treatments, some people prefer it to the more common medicinal alternatives.

Sex can't turn a woman's vagina blue unless she is having sex with someone covered in blue dye. That is not recommended as it could potentially cause some significant skin reactions. So why do so many teenagers think that blue waffle is a real thing? In part, it's because it fits in with the common narrative that there's something wrong with a woman having a lot of sex. If "blue waffle" were real, it could be a publicly visible marker that a woman has been sexual with a number of men. It's a way of medicalizing the notion that being sexual makes a woman into something bad—a slut. It's also a way of warning women off sex. The blue waffle myth tells women that if they have enough sex, everyone will be able to tell because their vulva will have turned blue.

It's important to note that the discussions of blue waffle almost never imply that the disease can affect men. (If it did, it would probably be more widely known as blue twinkie. After all, gonorrhea was known as "the clap" because people thought that clapping the penis between their hands could cure it. We're a very penis-focused society.) That's likely because being highly sexual isn't a mark of shame for men. It's something that's expected of them. More than that, being highly sexual is something they're supposed to be proud of. If a young guy's penis turned blue after having a lot of sex, many guys would probably use the color for bragging rights.

In summary, blue waffle doesn't exist. It's not an STD. Your genitals will not turn blue if you have a lot of sex. However, if you do have appearance changes on your genitals, such as bumps or sores, visit a doctor or a clinic. Such changes could be the sign of a real STD, one that needs to be diagnosed and treated by a professional.

It's a good idea to look at your genitals occasionally. Doing so is part of being proactive about your sexual health. There's no risk that you'll suddenly find a smurf in your underwear, but you could find something else. That's true even if you've been practicing safe sex,  Barriers are great at reducing STD risk, but they can't entirely protect you from diseases that spread by skin to skin contact.