Safe sex promoted for breaking students

By JENNIFER E. REITZ
Collegian Staff Writer

Along with the carefree atmosphere and attitudes that often accompany spring break come the dangers of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases -- that was the message of fliers circulating around campus before break, urging students to engage in safe, protected sex.

The AIDS Project, HealthWorks and the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance sponsored the campaign in order to warn students about the risks of unprotected sex, an activity that seems to be especially prevalent during spring break.

Jenine Turlish (senior-communication disorders) said spring break is a free-for-all and students do not think much about their behavior until it might be too late.

"I don't think they think about risks. They just think about the next guy they're going to hook up with or the next girl they're going to bring home," she said.

But Turlish's sister, Kelly, a freshman at Juniata College, disagreed. She said society publicizes the risks of HIV and STDs so much that protection is always an issue.

If all students adopted that attitude, a major goal of LGBSA and the AIDS Project would be in close reach, said Holly Bemiss, LGBSA political co-director.

The AIDS Project, 301 S. Allen St., and LGBSA sponsor progams to educate students about the risks of engaging in unprotected sex with anyone who has not tested negative for the HIV virus. It is important for students to be aware of the fact that AIDS can affect everyone, said Jane Richey, a volunteer for the AIDS Project.

" 'It can't happen to me' is a very prime response," Richey said. "That's the wonderful thing about being young -- you are sort of invincible but not in the case of AIDS."

Richey said it is important to increase the educational effort.

"It's springtime, a time when love blooms," she said.

It is also a time when many students let loose after the stress of midterms and engage in riskier behavior than they otherwise would, said David Bowser (junior-English).

"People go on spring break for one reason and one reason only," Bowser said, explaining that after a long stretch of classes, students just want to have a good time, which often involves excessive drinking and casual sex.

And Bowser said there is nothing wrong with tossing logic out the window while on vacation with thousands of other young people.

"That's the whole thing about spring break; you shouldn't have one coherent thought when you're on spring break," he said.

But using a condom during intercourse should not involve any conscious thought, he said.

"It's one of those things that should be second nature by now. We are the latex generation. It's sad but true," he said.

But Ginny Mulhatten, case-manager volunteer for the AIDS Project, said the best protection against AIDS does not involve latex.

The most effective form of protection against AIDS or other sexually-transmitted diseases is to abstain from intimate relations outside of long-term, monogamous relationships, Mulhatten said.

Richey said though abstinence is not always the preferred method of protection among college students, the risks cannot be ignored.

"One always has to have protection during sex. That's the very bottom line," she said.