TikTok is known for videos of teens dancing and lip-syncing to trending songs, but OB-GYN Staci Tanouye is using the video platform to share information about safe sex.
The doctor shares information about STDs, birth control, and how to become a gynecologist. About 157,000 people follow Tanouye, and she’s garnered more than 1.7 million likes on her content. She told Yahoo Lifestyle that her target audience is young girls on the app.
“I kind of just tried to be silly enough and make a fool enough to get their attention with their trends on their level, but then throw out the message and the medical information that I wanted them to get that I think is not out their enough,” Tanouye told Yahoo Lifestyle.
The doctor began publishing videos in November, she said, but the platform was “not at all intuitive” for the mom of two. So to learn how to fit on TikTok, she watched YouTube tutorial videos. Eventually, she got the hang of it.
Her most popular video comes from her participation in the viral dance challenge to the song “Candy” by Doja Cat. As she dances to the song, she shares safe sex tips in the captions.
“A lip cold sore = herpes virus. You can transmit oral herpes to the genitals. So, if your partner has a cold sore, don’t have oral sex,” she wrote in the captions.
About 1.1 million people liked the video on TikTok.
“I now see the potential of how big it is and how much I can get my message out just for general education. It’s no longer for recruiting patients to my practice. This is bigger than that,” Tanouye told Yahoo Lifestyle. “They are very powerful platforms that we can really make a big difference on.”
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H/T Yahoo Lifestyle