It would be completely naïve to say that college students are not having sex, but one can only hope that they are using protection. However, according to stdcheck.com, Miami-Dade has the fourth-highest number of reported cases of STDs in the U.S.
If ranking number four wasn’t scary enough, these high cases of STDs were among young adults between the ages of 15 and 24. Apparently, one needs to say “Hi, can I see the Carfax?” to find out more information before shaking somebody’s hand. That’s scary and disheartening.
When one thinks about the cases of STDs that go unreported, one would also think students would take more caution before lying in bed with someone. Unfortunately, that is not the case, at least not when young adults have a “hookup culture” mentality. Plainly stated, a hookup culture encourages casual sexual encounters, or what’s commonly known as “hooking up.”
The hookup culture is pervasive in the media, and it might be the reason why people, especially college students, commonly accept it. But what people forget is that a movie is a movie, and those fictional characters are exempt from any real disease one could realistically encounter. In other words, do not try this at home, kids.
Preaching abstinence to college students is pointless because abstinence is entirely up to individual beliefs, but, when making the decision to engage in sexual intercourse, it is always OK to be picky. It’s OK for one to not have sex with everyone he or she “talks” to, and it’s even more OK to ask someone if he or she has ever been tested before deciding to take that step with him or her. Moreover, one should make it a point to get tested.
Young adults accept the commercially advertised hookup culture because society has made it OK, which is something that has to change to achieve long and healthy lives. One shouldn’t want to risk contracting an STD, nor should he or she view it as a minor issue that is curable with a pop of pill.
According to teachingsexualhealth.ca, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, herpes, hepatitis B, and genital warts are all incurable, and many curable diseases such as gonorrhea and chlamydia can be a gateway to incurable diseases and can even cause pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women.
Why would one want to subject himself or herself or someone he or she loves to such consequences when they can easily be avoided by practicing safe sex? Safe sex does not take enjoyment away; all it means is that one makes the conscious decision to put health first no matter what. If each student did that, imagine how drastically reports of STDs in the area would decrease.
Like Gandhi said, one has to be the change he or she wants to see, even if that just means using protection or “just saying no” because that’s where it all begins.
College can be fun, and there are many traditions that characterize living in a college environment; however, contracting STDs should not be one of them. Everyone only has one life to live; don’t ruin it by making choices with consequences that can turn into life-long burdens.
