Sex is everywhere you look. It’s on TV, it’s online and it’s in stores. It’s seen as glamorous and popular on the covers of magazines and on shows like “Gossip Girl.” Its potentially harsh consequences are on display on shows like “16 and Pregnant” and in the carefully hidden condom aisles.
But, Trojan isn’t only hanging out around the lubes in the pharmacy section at Target. The company also sponsors an annual sexual health survey where universities across the country are ranked against each other in terms of sexual health.
“We first sent out two-page questionnaires to student health centers,” President of Sperling’s BestPlaces, the independent research company Trojan hired to do the study, Bert Sterling said. “We went to the websites of the student health centers and put ourselves in the position of students to get a very good idea of what sort of information is available for students.”
Sperling’s BestPlaces uses fresh-out-of-college graduates to look through the websites to find information from a 12-point checklist to get the most accurate view of what a college student can find online. After the results are tabulated, schools get a sexual health grade and ranking.
Michigan Big Ten schools dominated, with Michigan State and University of Michigan ranking second and fourth respectively. Eastern Michigan University ranked 81st out of the 141 schools.
While EMU has never been right at the top of the list (it spent two years in the sixties and then one in the seventies before falling to 81 for this year’s study), its never been at the bottom either. Eastern offers many sexual health programs and services for its students.
“We have free HIV testing every Thursday,” health education coordinator Eric Ward said. “The Women’s Center offers gynecological services and STI testing.”
But it isn’t just medical services the university provides. There are a lot of informational opportunities the university offers as well.
“We go out and talk to fraternities and sororities,” Ward said. “We had a woman with sex toys come talk about that. We go out and try to do a lot of that kind of work.”
Schools at the top of the list tend to go above and beyond just offering medical services. They also have things like an anonymous question-and-answer column in the newspaper where students can get help. The schools that fall to the bottom tend to be those that support a more abstinence-only lifestyle.
“A lot of it depends on the attitude of the administration to provide this info for the students,” Sterling said. “If you go to search the health center website [of the schools that ranked poorly], you can’t even find a mention of sex in a web search. There’s no acknowledgement of any sort of sexual activity by the students.”
Providing sexual health resources goes beyond things like basic information and putting free condoms out. In a society where the idea of sex becomes more and more accepted and expected, students need more guidance.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Ward said. “We treat you like adults. Want to have an adult conversation about an adult activity and how you can reduce your harm.”
It’s the misinformation that can cause a lot of the harm, and professor of the psychology of sex course Pamela Landau, is out to help change that. At the start of every class, she reads anonymously submitted questions about sex and provides a direct answer, guidance or an opinion on it.
“There is no question that challenges to sexual health in contemporary culture are immense,” Landau said. “This is especially true for college students who often have little or inaccurate information about sexual issues that are important to their sexual health and total well being. Accurate information is crucial in making informed decisions.”
Making informed decisions and understanding your own sexuality is half the battle, and the goal, for many sexual health information providers on campus.
“The majority of people who come to Eastern are not super sexually active,” Ward said. “They’re monogamous and in designated relationships, and great homework is to find a brand or style of condom that works for you. It fosters an open discussion about what you like and don’t like.”
The good news for EMU is, while it fell in the middle of the list of schools, students seem to know where they can go for help when they need it.
“I assumed that, since we have a health center, that sexual health was one of its functions,” senior communications major Michelle McAlpine said. “But if I had a problem, I would probably go to my doctor, just because that was the first thing I’d think of.”
However, other students would go seek help from on-campus facilities, even though they believe EMU has plenty of room to grow in this area.
“We could have more talks,” sophomore and social work major Rachel Burford said. “We’re a sexuality-open campus, but sex wise, we could use more oomph.”
While it’s an important issue for universities and their students to be aware of, it isn’t necessarily at the top of some people’s priority lists.
“Help with STD information and awareness is generally helpful, and students getting sick is a bad thing,” sophomore and international affairs student Joshua DeVriendt said. “But I don’t think it should be their number one concern though.”
While EMU lost to other Michigan schools, it didn’t land at the bottom, and for good reason. While there is plenty of space to grow, EMU is on its way to climbing up the list for next year. With the addition of a possible sexual health awareness week and a minor in human sexuality, designed to increase students’ knowledge of sexual behaviors and sexual health awareness, the awkwardness that surrounds the sex talk on campus may start to dissipate.
“There should be more,” Ward said. “We’re right in the middle and that gives us a lot of room for improvement, but I feel like my division is growing in a more positive direction. I’m not going to hold your hand to get your condom, but if you choose to use protection, they’re free here. Something’s always better than nothing.”
