Sexually transmitted infections, STDs, the clap, whatever you prefer to call it, usually generate a few laughs when cited in conversation. Students love joking about them, citing Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other historical playboys who notoriously contracted a STI. Despite sexually transmitted diseases often serving as a point of humor, they rarely make an appearance in the pages of The Elm. Students don’t feel comfortable discussing it in a public forum, much less in a serious manner. There is, however, a concern for the STI presence at WC.
The Elm received an anonymous letter expressing their concern with the number of STIs on campus. Its credibility is admittedly compromised with its anonymous nature, but the letter itself did raise questions and start some discussion, and spurred an article that appears this week.
The Elm isn’t a soapbox for sexual health, but we are a vehicle of student trends and opinions, and like it or not, STIs are a part of the student culture. For being a substantial part of our culture, we certainly don’t like educating and protecting ourselves. Abstinence, while being a respected and available option, isn’t a realistic one on college campuses. Sex is everywhere: condoms are in the dorm bathrooms, and “hook-ups” are a common occurrence at parties. It’s an accepted practice for two people to go home together after a night out, with the guy hardly knowing the girl’s first name, much less her sexual history.
Websites like Texts From Last Night celebrate this culture and poke fun at the ridiculous sexual and drinking situations that friends find themselves in, but remove the beer googles and realize the serious and real consequences of those actions. What isn’t widespread as sexual messages is knowledge about safe sex. For example, did you know that the HPV vaccine is not just for women? Men require the vaccine because HPV contracted from oral sex can lead to throat cancer. Sure it makes you uncomfortable just thinking about it, but keeping yourself informed is incredibly important.
The Elm encourages conversation, dialogue, and questions about safe sex on campus, because frankly, we’d be a bunch of disease-ridden idiots without them.
offers testing, treatments and vaccines, Nordhoff said she frequently refers students to the Kent County Health Department where they can get the same services independent of the college.
The Health Center does guarantee confidentiality, but many students still prefer being treated by family physicians or other outside practitioners.
“I’d rather go somewhere else because it would be awkward standing at the window saying that and I wouldn’t want to run into anyone I know,” said junior Virginia Long.
Reaching out to physicians is a suitable option, but many STIs often do not have symptoms, so students may not even be aware they have an infection. Nordhoff said many students also do not use the necessary preventative measures.
“Even if you’re on birth control, many people will just not use condoms and forget about STDs,” said Nordhoff.
But perhaps the most important message, as Nordhoff said, is, “Protect yourself because you just don’t know.”
March 18, 2011
Volume LXXXI Issue 18