Safe Sex?
Dear editor, I was disturbed when I read the letter on Monday “Don’t Preach to Me” because of the misconceptions printed. The letter stated: “There is a very easy and very cheap way to prevent both STDs and unwanted pregnancies… Armed with condoms, one could conceivably have sex with everyone on campus and none of these encounters would end in an STD or a pregnancy.” Condoms actually have a failure rate of about 3.7% in preventing pregnancies. If a man had “protected” sex with the 11,678 females on this campus, then he would have still brought approximately 432 children into this world. Studies have proven that no contraceptive works 100%. Also, condoms or other contraceptives cannot prevent all STDs. HPV (genital warts) is one of these STDs. The Medical Institute for Sexual Health states, “We must be diligent to educate the public about the risks to which they are exposed if they are sexually active outside of marriage, even if they use condoms.” Not only are physical health risks a reason to abstain, but also emotional health risks validate abstinence. Sex is a very intimate action for humans, but sex does not equal love. It can enhance love, but only a love that is committed. Teens tell how they thought sex would help a relationship, but after they broke up with their partner, they felt used and trite. These emotional problems attributed to having sex without a commitment of love as strong as marriage can be very detrimental to one’s health. Everyone needs to be well educated on the consequences of premarital sex, even “safe” sex. In schools we need to teach these consequences, physical and emotional. We should show students what some of the most common STDs look like, and videos such as “A Time to Wait for Sex” which provide a lot of information about the reality of sex. Our schools should teach abstinence (as we do with drugs), but we need to be clearer on the unavoidable consequences. Having sex before marriage is a choice, but it needs to be an educated choice.
Jennifer Pearson
Phone # 713-6527Student # 529710478Jennifer@cc.usu.edu
PS (And don’t print this) please don’t drop this issue before printing at least one letter that rebuts the misconception of “safe” sex. People need to know.