Students learn about responsible sex

Students lined up at all campuses to get lollipop condoms, pick up information about sexual health, and get information on pregnancy. Sexual responsibility day, Feb. 10, was a Student Life college wide event that aimed to provide students with facts about all aspects of sexual responsibility.

Different campuses had different tables, but all campuses provided information on different types of contraceptives, and had a mock bed made up for students to sign. Popcorn was free and every bag came with a sexual responsibility fact attached to it.

The Austin Pregnancy Resource Center, CoA Health and Human Services, Hope Connection, Planned Parenthood, Worth the Wait, and the Pflugerville and Austin Pregnancy Resource center all attended at least one campus and distributed information.

Eastview Campus and Riverside Campus had originally planned to offer HIV testing, but the mobile vans used for that service could not make it, and using an empty room would have presented confidentiality issues. Frank Taylor, RVC campus manager, said "I'm fully aware of the importance of testing, if we could work out something to have a mobile testing center on campus regularly I would be all for it…due to the one way in, one way out nature of the room we couldn't do it."

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Sexy Facts

Sexually transmitted diseases

are passed person-to-person through sexual contact. There are three different ways to engage in sex. These include vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral sex.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people aged 15 to 24.

More than 20 different viruses and bacteria can pass from one partner to another during sex.

At least one in four Americans will contract an STI at some point in their lives.

Herpes is contagious days preceding an outbreak or the development of sores. Even though most couples protect themselves with condoms, condoms may not necessarily provide protection against herpes. Why? This is because herpes outbreaks often occur on areas not covered by a condom.

There are an estimated 700000 new cases of gonorrhea each year, half of them are reported to the Center of Disease control.

A pap test will not diagnose Chlamydia

The majority of sexually transmitted diseases have no symptoms or mild symptoms. Moreover, some symptoms may be mistaken for other less serious conditions. For example, gonorrhea is often mistaken for a bladder infection.

One in five people over 12 years of age have the herpes virus

Male condoms, the most common form of birth control, are 99% effective in preventing STD's if used correctly.