A responsibility for all: Safe sex a necessity

Massachusetts Daily Collegian (U. Massachusetts-Amherst)

AMHERST, Mass. (U-WIRE) Let's recall what we did as a university this weekend. Raise your hand if you: Studied, slept, or had sex.

The number of hands that go up drop when you ask how many that had sex with a known and trusted partner. The hands dwindle even further when you ask how many of those who had sex used protection.

Studies done within the last three years show that despite being a high-risk group for contracting sexually transmitted diseases or illness (commonly referred to as STDs or STIs), American college students continue to engage in risky sexual behavior. Reuters Health reports college students do not use condoms consistently.

Harvard's School of Public Health's 2001 study of 8,500 undergraduates nationwide, published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, showed that 71 percent were sexually experienced, but only 43 percent reported always using a condom, and an alarming 24 percent said they had never used a condom.

Supposing that you were one of those at the university this weekend who did engage in sexual activities with an unknown partner, or even with a known partner, but without a condom, what excuse do you have? Every student living on campus has access to free condoms: Resident advisers are given buckets full to provide to their residents upon request. Whether you live on or off campus as a student (or professor or staff) you may purchase condoms at University Health Services for exceptionally discounted prices.

One in five people in the United States have a STI, according to FemaleHealth.com. Two-thirds of STIs occur in people under the age of 25. The most common age group to contract an STI is women between the ages of 15 and 25. One in five college students have Chlamydia, a common bacterial STI.

If that isn't enough to make you strap on a condom, say no or run to University Health Services for a check-up, half of all new HIV infections occur in individuals under the age of 25. John Hopkins reports that the incidence of STIs is rising, in part, due to social change in marriage patterns: More people have sex earlier, marry later, divorce more often, and have more sexual partners than in previous generations.

Supposing you didn't contract a STI from a partner this weekend, there remains the great risk of pregnancy from unprotected sex. Twenty-two-percent of sexually active 18- and 19-year-olds in the United States become pregnant each year, according FemaleHealth.com. Is that really a responsibility you are ready for?

Abstinence remains the only way to avoid the consequences of STIs and the responsibilities of pregnancy. However, since a majority of college students are sexually active, we as a generation must exercise caution through the use of condoms and smart choices.

Nobody on this campus has an excuse for engaging in sexual activity without using a condom: they are easily accessed, come in a variety of colors, sizes, flavors, textures, and styles. Whatever you do on your weekends here at UMass, keep it safe - for all of us. Know your partner, have sober sex and use a condom.

Copyright 2009 - Daily Egyptian