This semester, the SHS launched a sexual health initiative to provide students with more accurate information about sex. Part of this included a live Q&A with a group of campus “sexperts,” including Godley, who is a School of Public Health clinical assistant professor of community health sciences. According to SHS wellness coordinator Katharine Mooney, ‘We decided to focus on sexual health because it plays a key role in students’ overall physical and emotional wellbeing.’
A report released last year by the federal Centres for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 6.7% of the one million Americans infected by HIV are under the age 24, and so the need for students to gain accurate sexual knowledge, confidence, and realistic expectations has never been greater or more urgent. However, that is not to say that the message of the initiative, which includes a blog and a condom giveaway programme, will be delivered without a healthy dose of humour.
Mooney explained that though the Q&A sexpert panel will be held in the dark ‘to make students more comfortable,’ there will also be ‘fun glow-in-the-dark giveaways such as necklaces and condoms.’ Also, the “Condom Fairy” programme allows students to order free male and female condoms, delivered anonymously by snail mail to on-campus addresses. Students can order up to three male condoms, two female condoms, three personal lubricant packets, and two Sheer Glyde dams, and, as of last week, about 500 students had requested the items.
Godley commented that at in her classes she sees ‘a really smart, really engaged population of students who care a lot about each other and their futures. So there’s a great opportunity to create general equality and see human sexuality as normal.’ However, she added that many young people come to sex with ‘totally unrealistic expectations’ from watching ‘amped-up porn sex’ and so ‘we need to be in more open communication about the meaning of consent and gender roles.’
Google+
‘Sexperts’ and the Condom Fairy: US University Launches Blog
