After she had been in college for a year, second-year
physiological science student Victoria Muchnik said she noticed
students would talk a lot more about their sex lives in high
schools, but at UCLA, fewer and fewer students would talk about the
sexual aspects of their lives.
This is not because high school students are more sexually
active than college students, but rather because being sexually
active is more of a rarity in adolescence so “people think
that it’s cool,” she said.
In a college environment where students say having sex seems to
have become the norm, on-campus health services have helped
students learn more about preventing sexually transmitted diseases
and pregnancies through methods of contraception.
Ann Brooks, a nurse practitioner at the Arthur Ashe Student
Health and Wellness Center and nurse manager of the women’s
health service, said UCLA has lower rates of sexual activity and
incidences of sexually transmitted infection, the technical term
for sexually transmitted diseases, than other university
campuses.
“Because we hear so much about sexual activity, it
surprises me how low our numbers are,” Brooks said.
But she added, because of what students might hear through
outside media or their peers, there might be a distorted perception
that sexual activity is more common than it is in reality.
According to 2002 statistics from the last survey conducted by
the Ashe Center, a little more than half of UCLA students are
sexually active and 92 percent are protecting themselves from STIs
or pregnancy either by abstaining or by using protection.
Only 3.1 percent of the sample reported being diagnosed with an
STI in the past year.
But despite how low the statistics are, Brooks said because
students have more independence and freedom in college, they are
more exposed to sex and more likely to engage in intercourse.
“I think there’s a limitation (on exposure) when
you’re with your parents or at home. When you go away to
college, you have a lot of opportunities around you and if your
friends are being sexually active, then there’s an
opportunity for people (to have sex),” Brooks said.
Brooks added that alcohol consumption in college serves as a
risk factor for contracting STIs.
When under the influence of alcohol, 14.7 percent of students,
as opposed to 4.1 percent when sober, did not use a condom or any
other form of protection, according to the survey.
Services on campus, such as gender-specific health service and
the Ashe Center, provide confidential screenings for STIs and
contraceptive services, from condoms to the pill, even a birth
control shot.
“For some people, this is the time of their life where
they get experience with sexual activity and our thing is that they
do it safely. We’d like for people to know where their
resources are so they can learn to take care of themselves and keep
themselves safe,” said Evelyn Desser, a nurse practitioner at
the Ashe Center.
The Ashe Center puts on programs and sets up booths on the Hill
and on campus as incoming freshmen enter into a new, more mature
and more independent part of their life.
“I think it’s good to have the information fresh in
mind when you’re coming into a situation where you are going
to have more opportunities or more pressure or whatever it takes
when people become sexually active,” Brooks said.
On the Hill there is also the Student Health Advocates program,
which provides condoms and health information, as well as
over-the-counter medicine.
Desser said it is important for students to feel comfortable
with their sexual partner.
“One of the key concepts is not to engage in anything that
you would regret later. Do only what you would feel comfortable
with. Honor yourself. Don’t let someone else talk you into
something you’re not ready for,” she said.