The Internet is losing its mind over one woman's story of a mistake that might have ended her parents' marriage. According to the anonymous daughter, she accidentally — and unknowingly — passed on herpes to her father without either of them realizing. What's worse is that it wasn't until months later that her dad broke out in a herpes rash on his face for the first time, causing her mom to think he was having an affair. After a few weeks of thinking her dad was possibly a cheating scumbag, she realized what might have happened — and that it's completely her fault. But now she doesn't know if she should she fess up to causing the problem and risk letting her conservative parents know that she had premarital sex — and it led to an STD.
As the woman explained, she grew up in a religious family. But that didn't stop her from spreading her wings once she got to college.
As she shared in a post on Reddit that has since gone viral, the daughter has parents who are both "very religious" and "they believe nobody should have sex until marriage." However, "I, on the other hand, do not believe that."
That is why she decided to experiment while at school. It was at this time that she started shaving her pubic hair to keep things neat and tidy, but that would prove to complicate things later on in the story.
In fact, one of her college trysts led to a life-long herpes infection, but she thought she had gotten that under control.
The writer explained that she didn't think the infection was still a problem. "The medication I take now really suppresses my symptoms and makes it very unlikely to pass it to others," she wrote. But she apparently overestimated its efficacy.
On a recent Christmas break, the writer went home to her parents' house and decided to give herself a little trim down there, but forgot to bring her own razor. "So I use a disposable one of my father’s," she wrote. In a rush, she accidentally cut herself, but she didn't even think twice about it once she got out of the shower.
That is, until a couple of months later when her mom video-called her and was extremely upset. "She’s hysterically crying and she’s moving back to our home country," the woman wrote. "My parents are getting a divorce. I have no idea what happens but she gets interrupted with another call and says she’ll call me back."
She then FaceTimed her dad only to see that he had a familiar-looking rash all over his face.
Her dad told her that he had caught herpes, but he didn't know when and he didn't know how. He promised her that he's never cheated on her mom, but his daughter wasn't sure what to believe.
"It takes me two full weeks to realize this could have been me," she continued. But by this point it was too late: Her mom had flown back to her her home country to be with her sister.
"There’s a lot of moving parts to this," she continued. "My parents do not think I’m sexually active and it would be a big disappointment to admit this let alone say I have herpes." But she knew that it was the right thing to do.
"Long story short, I tell them, my mom moves back and I didn’t entirely ruin my family. It took a lot more work than this makes it seem but that is how I gave my dad herpes," she added.
Some people were seriously judging the woman over her hairy situation.
"You shaved your pubes with one of your dad's face razors… and you put it back? Eww…." wrote one person in the comments.
"I’m just picturing your dad explaining it to people who saw him when his herpes flared up.
'Hey, did you ever figure out who you got herpes from?'
'Oh yeah, turns out I just got it from my daughter,'" another person joked.
"Yea … this is the part I can’t get past," chimed in a third. "It was disposable, throw it out. Don’t shave your pubes with someone else’s razor, especially knowing they use it on their face (maybe their pubes too.) That’s a real (expletive) move. Especially knowing that you have (expletive) herpes."
Others weren't so sure she was the culprit.
"So, have you been tested to see what type of herpes you have (if you do) and has your father been tested to see what type of herpes he has?" asked one person. "It's great that you kept your parent's marriage from failing, but he could have gotten herpes any number of innocent ways that didn't involve your shaving."
"I don't want to rain on people's happy parade…but you almost certainly didn't give your dad herpes," commented someone else. "You mentioned you cut yourself. Herpes is not transmissible through blood so whether you cut yourself or not doesn't matter. And herpes isn't transmissible through inanimate objects. Your dad got herpes *somehow* and …uh… I mean your mom's hypothesis is not a bad one," the person added.
According to Women's Health, genital herpes (which might be what the writer has) can be spread through vaginal, oral, or anal sex. "The herpes virus is usually spread through contact with open sores," it read. And the New Zealand Herpes Foundation noted that "Herpes is not present in the blood."
One person commended the woman for at least trying to do the right thing. "Honestly, you’re a really good person for telling them the truth. A lesser person would have never said anything and watched their whole family be destroyed," the person wrote.
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