Let’s talk some sex.
As part of Know Your Status Week, Christine Tolis, assistant program director of student wellness, spoke at a seminar entitled Let’s Talk About Sex. The discussion, hosted by Activities Programming Board (APB), Black Student Union and Spectrum, dealt with how to practice safe sex in order to reduce the risk of contracting an STD.
One of the first things Tolis had the group do was yell the word sex. From there the seminar was informative, blunt and to the point, as well as entertaining. In the past I have been to sex seminars that have been just the opposite. Usually it seems like the speaker at these types of discussions seems to be afraid of the topic. They are nervous about answering questions and certainly have issues saying the word sex, let alone yelling it.
Tolis explained the different types of STDs. There are bacterial STDs, which are treatable, and viral STDs, which are not. She also gave instruction on proper condom usage, telling people to make sure they got the right size, that it wasn’t expired and to pinch the top and roll it onto the penis. This was the first sex seminar I have been to where the putting the condom on the banana technique was used. She even showed the audience how to make their own dental dam. Simply take a condom and roll it out, cut off the tip and slice up the side. What you should be left with is a large, rectangular piece of latex.
Sex can be an uncomfortable topic, however that doesn’t make it any less important. There should be more seminars like this one. Perhaps if students were given this information in high school there would be less of an issue with STDs. Plain and simple, people are going to have sex. Preaching abstinence has never really worked and is just an excuse to avoid informing people on how to have sex properly. So talk about sex. Don’t treat it like it’s a hideous thing that no one else does. Above all, know what you’re getting into. Unprotected sex puts you at a high risk for contracting an STD and the numbers for those who already have STDs are high. So why make yourself one of those numbers?