Strategy Guides

Strategy guides from PackMap — sexual health education for young gay and bisexual men.

• Alcohol, Weed, and Sex: What They Actually Do — Alcohol, weed, and poppers all dull your judgment in the moment. Here's how each one shifts the risks, and how to stay ahead of them.
• App Hookup Strategy: Navigating Dating Apps Safely — How to actually use the apps without it costing you. Filtering, the status talk, and meeting up with your health intact.
• The Buddy System: Keeping Each Other Safe — A simple plan with someone you trust so you're never fully alone for chemsex or a first meet. How to set it up before the night starts.
• Chemsex: Harm Reduction When Substances Are Part of the Scene — Chemsex carries real risks: overdose, heart strain, more STIs. Here's how to cut the danger if you're going to do it anyway.
• Advanced Condom Mechanics: Physics, Chemistry & Failure Modes — Most condom failures come down to wrong size or the wrong lube. Fit, materials, and the oil-and-latex trap that splits them.
• Limits: Where This Guide Stops — Which parts of the prevention playbook apply to everyone, and which depend on what you do in bed. A quick map so you know what's yours.
• Finding an LGBTQ+-Affirming Doctor — A doctor who gets it means accurate diagnoses and easy access to PrEP and STI care. How to find one and screen them fast.
• Your First Time: What to Expect (And How to Not Freak Out) — First time bottoming? How to handle the nerves, the prep, and the mechanics so it's comfortable instead of something to dread.
• Fisting: Mechanics, Safety & Preparation — Fisting done right is slow and deliberate: nitrile gloves, thick lube, a long warm-up. How to avoid tearing the tissue inside.
• GHB/GBL: The Dose That Matters — G has almost no margin for error and turns deadly with alcohol. Precise dosing, no booze, and the timing rules that keep it survivable.
• Group Sex & Multi-Partner Encounters: Risk Management in Practice — Group sex changes the math on STIs, condoms, and consent. How to track risk and keep things clear when it's more than two.
• The Home Testing Kit: What's in the Box and How Not to Fail It — Home test kits are accurate for HIV, syphilis and more — if you collect the sample right. How to do it properly and read the result.
• The Medical Audit: How to Talk to Your Doctor — The exact words for PrEP, DoxyPEP, and STI testing so the appointment goes your way. Scripts that get you what you came for.
• Lethal Combos: The Math That Kills — Some mixes can kill you: poppers with Viagra crashes your blood pressure, alcohol with G stops your breathing. The combos to never make.
• Lube Science 101: Why It Matters More Than You Think — The right lube protects the tissue and lowers STI risk; the wrong one does the opposite. How to match it to anal sex and rectal pH.
• The Bottom's Guide: Mechanics, Control & Physics — Bottoming is yours to run: your prep, your lube, your pace. The mechanics that put you in control and keep it comfortable.
• Oral Sex: Mechanics, Hygiene & Reading the Room — Oral isn't risk-free — gonorrhea and chlamydia set up in the throat, and only a throat swab catches them. What to know and test for.
• The Top's Guide: Mechanics, Empathy & Bypassing the Reflex — Reading your partner, not just topping him: the entry, bypassing the reflex, and the basics — PrEP, U=U, testing — that keep you covered.
• The Versatile's Guide: How to Switch Gears Without the Awkwardness — Switching roles means switching gears, physically and mentally. How to handle the logistics, the lube, and the testing as a vers guy.
• Meth and Sex: What You Need to Know — Meth ramps up HIV and STI risk fast — judgment slips, PrEP doses get missed. What it does to sex and how to reduce the harm.
• PrEP vs. PEP: Understanding Your HIV Prevention Options — PrEP protects you before sex; PEP is the emergency fix after. Same drugs, different timing — here's which one you need, and when.
• The Testing Protocol: Manage What You Measure — Most STIs show no symptoms, so testing every three months is how you actually stay on top of it. What to test for and how often.

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