We chatted to Made In Chelsea’s Sam Thompson about casual sex, slut-shaming and lad culture

Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson recently teamed up with Public Health England to promote and encourage condom use amongst young people. The collaboration has produced two films to raise awareness, one of which was shot at Warwick Uni.

The Warwick Tab spoke to Sam to find out more about sexual health, casual hook-ups, slut-shaming and more.

What made you want to get involved with the Public Health England’s STI campaign?

It's a taboo subject and we're trying to change that. We're willing to watch people sleep with each other on camera on reality TV, but it's a bit strange if someone talks about STIs. That's absurd to me.

Why are condoms so important in the STI campaign?

Condoms are the best safety net we have against catching an STI. The reason being as well is that there's so many stigmas attached to condoms, most of which aren't even true.

Why do you think women get more stick for carrying condoms around than men do?

We live in a bit of a backward age. It's absurd that a women might not carry a condom around because they might get slut-shamed. You're both equally responsible for each other's sexual well-being. If a woman wants to carry a condom she's very clever for doing so. There shouldn't be any presumptions made just because somebody's trying to be safe.

It's a very hard mindset to change. We live in an era of lad culture and in an age where it's almost cool to risk it and get an STI.

So do you think it’s ‘normal’ to have an STI in this day and age?

Unfortunately it's become a lot more normal, yes. I think with lad culture it can almost be a of badge of honour, to show that someone is a player.

It's just a pill to get rid of something like chlamydia or gonorrhoea, people use their sexual health with Russian roulette rules. But we're here to say that this isn't the right way to think about it. First of all, you could be spreading it to other people, and basically ruining lives, making people infertile. Seven out of 10 women don't even know they have chlamydia and 50 per cent of men don't know either.

And often people think it'll either be just chlamydia or gonorrhoea, both of which you can generally get rid of. But it's obviously not so simple if you get something like herpes, which can be a bit of a life changer.

Why are people so reluctant to use condoms?

I think embarrassment comes into it – a lot of people don't even know how to even use a condom because they've never tried. People also think the moment you bring up the condom question can be a bit of a turn off, and that's a perception we're trying to change.

People also think using a condom might worsen the sexual experience, or lower the mood. But you can make putting a condom on part of the whole experience, and you can get so many different types – if that ruins the experience you're just not doing it right!

I think people are also embarrassed about buying condoms. I know I was when I was younger.

During your time travelling in your late teens did you always use condoms when you should have?

No not at all! I'm not here trying to preach that I'm an angel. I was just like every other 17 year old, not really caring about that kind of stuff. I've come out and said that I had an STI in the past and that was my learning curve.

People make mistakes and you grow from it and learn from it. You just don't want it to be too late.

Do you think in sexual education there's not enough stress on casual hook ups and drunk sex?

Yes. You can actually find condoms so easily, but they don't really tell you that. We need to talk about the real world during sex ed. This stuff happens but they don't tell you you're going to experience it.

And it's just so easy. There's a free condom finder where you just have to type in your post code and you're there! You can even get a condom card which gets you free condoms too.

You recently opened up about having had chlamydia yourself. How did you tell the relevant partners and what advice would you give to someone in the same situation?

When I got it I was 17 and I hated it. Telling the person I thought I'd given it to was horrible. Now you can get the GP or whoever to send an anonymous text to them, but you don't really want to put someone through that.

I think you should just be honest. That person will respect you so much more. You just need to try and be as mature as possible about it, and do it as soon as you can. If they're sleeping with other people, you could have potentially just given someone else the chance to be infertile, and at that point you're the only person to blame.