Two condoms, lubrication and a Valentine’s Day card.
While these items could possibly make for an interesting evening, they are also what the Olin Health Center Sexual Health Promotion Team will be distributing today from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the International Center for National Condom Day.
Olin Health Educator Dennis Martell said his team will be passing out the Valentine’s Day kit, not to promote sexual activity, but to help people make healthy decisions.
“We are really trying to address the needs of students,” Martell said. “People are having sex and should use condoms.
“We are giving them convenient access to something they need.”
Martell said there were sexual health displays in the Brody Complex on Monday and the In Your Face Sexual Reality Troupe performed on Tuesday night. All the events are part of the Health Sexuality Week, where up to 13,000 condoms will be distributed.
Martell said according to research done by the National Collegiate Health Association, 50 percent of students are having sex use a condom. Martell said, based on this research, the health team is trying to make it easier for more people to use protection.
He said research conducted on campus shows there is a common misconception that students think others have two to three sexual partners per year. But actual interviews show most students have one - if any - sexual partners during the course of a year.
“I think as soon as a person is in a relationship people assume they are having sex,” chemistry sophomore Sarah Purol said. “And it is worse when they have more than one relationship during a year, no matter how serious it actually is, people still assume the person is having sex in all the relationships.”
Purol said she thinks it is a good idea for the health team to pass out condoms and information. She remembers getting something similar to the Valentine’s Day Kit last year.
“I don’t think the kits will promote sex,” Purol said. “But it is important to be intelligent about sex and this is a good way to do it.”
Condom Day has been nationally celebrated on Valentine’s Day for 11 years. The day is sponsored by the American Social Health Association. Michael Stalker, a spokesman for the association, said the holiday is traditionally associated with love.
“Valentine’s Day is a classic day for love,” Stalker said. “There will be people having sex as an expression of that love.”
Stalker said he thinks recognizing the day started when AIDS was becoming a big public issue. He said there were people trying to prevent the disease and developed Condom Day to increase awareness.
“Condoms are obviously not the only option for protection, abstinence is the only way to be sure,” Stalker said. “But you can’t get around the fact that people are sexually active.”
Lee Haselhuhn, mentor for the sexual health team, said the group always tries to make the serious issue of protective sex fun through the distribution of the kits.
“Our culture doesn’t always allow us to talk about sexual related topics and when it does, it’s usually negative,” the physiology senior said.
“This gives students an environment where they can feel comfortable talking about sex.”
