Gearing up for V Day: Safe sex is the best sex

When you go away to college, all the new freedoms you enjoy make it easy to forget about any safe sex education you received in talks with your parents and/or lessons in a classroom. The only form of education you still receive during college is through commercials you see on television, online or in print. Whether it’s an ad for birth control pills or the latest in condoms or lubricants, most manufacturers don’t portray any message other than “buy my product.” But if you arm yourself with knowledge and your choice of contraceptive, you can avoid contracting — or spreading — a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI).

Each year in the United States, there are more than 1 million new gonorrhea and chlamydia infections.

If you and your partner are not using protection, you are engaging in risky sexual behavior by exposing yourself to STIs and the possibility of pregnancy.

A few statistics:

• An estimated 8,300 young people aged 13-24 years in the 40 states reporting to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were infected with HIV in 2009.
• The CDC estimates that there are more than 19 million new STI infections every year in the U.S. Nearly half of these are among young people aged 15-24 years.
• Cases of Gonorrhea increased to more than 300,000 reported in 2010, as well as Chlamydia which increased to 1.3 million cases.
• Less than half of the people who should be screened receive recommended STI screening services.
• Undetected and untreated STIs can increase a person’s risk for HIV and cause other serious health consequences, such as infertility.
• Young people represent 25 percent of the sexually experienced population in the United States, but account for nearly half of new STIs.
• More than 400,000 teen girls aged 15-19 years gave birth in 2009.

If you are having sex, condoms/oral barriers are the only method that provides protection against both unintended pregnancy and STIs.

Some precautions you can take to avoid infection:

• The only 100 percent effective way to prevent HIV, other STIs and pregnancy is abstinence from vaginal, anal and oral intercourse.
• If you are sexually active, the correct and consistent use of a latex condom/oral barrier can reduce the risk of STI transmission.
• Birth control is important, but remember: Pills, IUDs, and the like only protect against pregnancy, not STIs. Make sure you cover all your bases!
• If you do engage in unprotected sex, see a doctor and get tested regularly so you can treat any infections you may have, thus decreasing the potential to pass an STI on to others.

Helpful resources:

• Bedsider.org: Free daily, weekly or monthly text or e-mail reminders for birth control and/or health center appointments. (Operated by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.)
• ItsYourSexLife.org: Learn how to best protect yourself, as well as talk to your partner and health care provider comfortably about how you feel about sex and protection. (Official website of MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation’s It’s Your (Sex) Life public information campaign.)

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/sexualhealth.