Frottage: What It Is and STD Risk
Frottage refers to sexual activity involving rubbing or friction between bodies without penetration — sometimes used as a general term, sometimes referring more specifically to genital-to-genital contact. It's often grouped with "outercourse," a broader term for non-penetrative sexual activity.
Why it's lower risk, not no risk
Because it typically doesn't involve the exchange of semen, vaginal fluid, or blood the way penetrative sex does, frottage carries a meaningfully lower risk for infections that spread primarily through fluid exchange, like HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. It does not eliminate risk for infections that spread through skin-to-skin contact — herpes and HPV in particular can still transmit through direct genital skin contact without any penetration at all.
Practical takeaway
If STD risk reduction is a goal, frottage is a genuinely lower-risk category of sexual activity compared to penetrative sex — but "lower risk" isn't interchangeable with "safe," particularly for the skin-contact-transmitted infections. A barrier (like a condom used as a physical barrier during contact, even without penetration) can reduce that remaining risk further.
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