Wrap it up

Someone recently said that when the weather warms up, people immediately start thinking about sex.

Though the idea of an intimate embrace or a flirty fling seems appealing, sexual health and safety are sometimes forgotten.

This semester I am taking a sexual health course and it is interesting, overwhelming at times and informative. The course offers an array of information about sex, sexuality and sexual health, and the bulk of what many students thought they knew before entering the classroom was just a tiny slice of the pie.

Though talking about the subject varies from person to person, every student at ECU has had some experience with sex. Let's not confuse sexual experience with the act because they are two completely different things.

When it comes to sex, we all have a choice, and it is a personal decision affected by any number of factors. Regardless of sexual histories and futures, every student should be required to take this sexual health course. Aside from learning about one's own body and sexuality, the class offers the chance to familiarize oneself with the opposite sex, how to safely satisfy sexual interests and how to develop an overall awareness about sex and sexuality.

With far more than 100 students enrolled in the course, the students do not pour out of each class hungry for sex or experimentation. I personally tend to walk out of each class eager to share some random new fact with a stranger. On the first day of class, the professors assured each student that, regardless of what we think we know, there is a world of information about sex that we would discover over the course of the semester. Until this semester, I had no idea that Mr. Goodyear (yes, the tire man) designed the first condom, or that it is actually legal for men to have sex with female animals in Lebanon. Though interesting, these facts have little impact on a student's sexual decisions.

The statistics are the most imperative part of the course, and the facts don't lie! Though I have found myself holding back laughter and sometimes blushing in class, the brutal facts about sexual health have found many students reconsidering their sexual partners and interests. Statistically, women who use birth control, in efforts to prevent pregnancy, are less likely to use protective barriers during sex, but the pill will not protect a woman or her partner from transmitting STDs/STIs.

With more than 25 transmittable diseases, taking that extra couple of minutes to prevent transmission doesn't seem like such an inconvenience. STDs are frighteningly real and the prevalence is astounding. At least 45 million people have had a genital herpes infection, approximately 6.2 million cases of HPV are reported every year and at least 20 million Americans are already infected with HPV.

According to the American Social Health Association, 50 percent of sexually active persons will contract an STD/STI by the age of 25. Each year there are 3 million new cases of chlamydia, and it is estimated that one in five Americans has genital herpes, with up to 90 percent of those infected unaware of contracting it.

Because many secondary schools preach abstinence, these facts are often overlooked and people disregard the risks involved with sexual activity. Though an individual's chances of contracting an STD/STI increase with the number of partners, it only takes one unsafe sexual act to transmit STDs.

The sexual health course is an eye-opener for the curious, the confused and the completely oblivious. Perhaps if every student were equally informed about sexual health, the student body could reduce the likelihood of increasing STD/STI numbers on campus.

This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.