High Five?

The Minnesota Daily article “Sexual-health surveys clash” by Andy Mannix and Betsy Graca caught my attention on Thursday November 29th. The article was based on the new survey conducted by Trojan condoms. The survey indicated that out of 139 colleges, the University of Minnesota placed first place safe sexual health performances. From an outside perspective, this may seem to be a compliment to the University, yet the article continues to enlighten us on how the survey results were not completely accurate. Because they were unable to obtain a lot of information from many of the schools, Trojan condoms focused on each school’s health services, contraception availability, and awareness, instead of more important statistics such as STI rates and sexual health knowledge on campuses when conducting the survey. It is here that one may see the problem. Just because a school has good health services and is fortunate enough to have many students willing to inform others on sexual health and disease education, doesn’t mean the campus is actually the healthiest when it comes to sex. Although the U of M does have great services, many students do not actually follow the safest practices when it comes to sex. As a member of the SHADE, I have found it difficult to reach out to many students on the importance of safe sex. With the article backing me up, only 60 percent of students use condoms when having sex. That leaves us with 40 percent of students not having safe sex! Additionally, as aware as Trojan condoms makes the University seem, it is critical to consider that from a Boynton Health Survey taken last year, a frightening 12.6 percent of students believe that withdrawal is a safe method of birth control. Maybe Trojan condoms should stop focusing on the mere 60 percent of University sexually-safe students and instead focus on the 40 percent that are now prone to Sexually Transmitted Infections and pregnancy. Although the University is trying to reach out to students on the importance of safe sex, it still has a long way to go.


To find out more about sexual health services at the U of M, address the link below:
http://www.bhs.umn.edu/shade/