In high school, I remember health class teaching sex education with a specific set of phrases such as, “Say no,” “You could die before the age of 25” and “Children are forever.” Safe sex was promoted to cover all the bases, but abstinence was the main push in a classroom full of hormonal teenagers who recently discovered themselves.
When I left for college, I was told by my mother to make good choices. I didn’t think my mother’s advice would be reinforced by the university I would attend.
It was weird how the awkward conversation at home and in the classroom was replaced with informal humor at MSU.
Instead of scrunching into a boo-boo face, I remained calm and my eyes didn’t automatically divert to the floor for refuge. I was able to listen to the information and also gain the courage to ask questions.
I already had a healthy knowledge of sex; my mother told me everything because her mother had told her nothing.
Campus, however, is where Olin Health Center staff taught me how to properly apply a condom.
MSU is where, as a Maximizing Academic Growth in College, or MAGIC, student, I learned how to facilitate a conversation with my roommate about having sex in our dorm room.
MSU is where residents have woke me up in the wee hours of morning asking for resident mentor-issue condoms.
The same institution providing me with a formal education still finds time to educate me about the birds and the bees, and they do it with smiles.
Making good choices when independence has a freshly unwrapped smell might be a challenge for some, but the university seemed to have my back.
MSU doesn’t sugar coat, beat around the bush or hyperventilate when students want to learn about sex — it educates. That is what an institute of higher learning is supposed to do, right?
As a resident mentor, my eyebrows rose more than a few times when it came to answering questions about sex and knowing what I said could influence some young woman’s future.
I thought more than once, “I didn’t sign up for this,” as I had to knock on a resident’s door and ask her and her guest to lower their voices and pleasure sounds to a minimum.
Sex still is a touchy subject, but MSU has taught me to take steps in making the unbearable conversation about the expression of physical love as simple as meeting a professor during office hours: If you ask the right question the right way, you’ll get an answer.
The transition from the primary message of “Abstinence is the best birth control” to “Sex is OK, only if it’s safe,” might be overwhelming for students.
The consequences of sex cannot be avoided and the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Olin Health Center is on a mission to inform MSU students of all the consequences that come with the joys of sex and the safety tactics that should be included in the action.
Encouraging students to use their brains in bed as well as in the classroom allows universities — and MSU in particular — a path into the dirty thoughts of its student body.
Those inroads are important in a place where sex is a reality, not a rumor that spreads through the cafeteria by sixth period. The university takes our sexual health seriously, even if we aren’t ready to do it ourselves.
Being straight forward as well as telling the truth and meaning it, could be the keys to avoiding a sexually transmitted infection and enjoying a healthy relationship.
At home, abstinence for some is a toothy smile to keep parents at bay or a way of life focused on a spiritual union tying two souls together. For a few more, it’s a happy thought, but difficult to put in action.
Thankfully, MSU has programs in place to pick up the ball where some parents might have dropped it.
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Ashley Brown is the State News opinion writer. Reach her at brownas8@msu.edu.
