Promiscuity is on the rise at Norton U., and it is time to address it as the problem it has become. Every sexual engagement poses some risk to students and their welfare. Premarital sex needs to be identified for what it is. Premarital sex is glorified Russian Roulette.
When playing Russian Roulette, you load one bullet into the chamber of a gun, spin the chamber, close it, put it to your head and fire. Engaging in promiscuous sex is exactly the same. With the spread of AIDS on the rise, and with new diseases like mollusca ("the clam") popping up regularly, forming sexual relations is Russian Roulette. It is a risk every time.
During a half decade, condom use has skyrocketed under the pretense that they can protect against the HIV virus. This is extremely misleading. Condoms are susceptible to human error as well.
This haphazard risk-taking is hardly worth the satisfaction. One night of sex won't look so great from a hospital bed when dying from AIDS. When you consider having sex, stop and think; this could be death you're sleeping with.
Consequences are a harsh reality, and with HIV infection lurking around the corner, the stakes are getting even higher. It is good to know that some K-State students are choosing to remain abstinent. Almost 15 percent* of females from 1990-1994 have chosen to remain abstinent. Of males, 10.8 percent* chose to remain abstinent during the same period. The most encouraging part of these statistics is the fact that 95 percent* of them chose abstinence not because of fear, but because of their moral values.
Unfortunately, the percentage of students who have multiple partners is on the rise. Engaging in sexual relations with more than one partner is very risky. It is an emotional risk and a physiological risk. Sex is meant to be more than just physical enjoyment.
About 11.5 percent* of the students at K-State who are sexually active have contracted a sexually transmitted disease. While no tests are yet available for "the clam," a survey of campus health officials indicates that fully 21 percent of sexually active students using the health center for unrelated reasons have been infected. Both men and women are contracting diseases, but these diseases do discriminate. People who are sexually active get sexually transmitted diseases, not people who are abstinent.
Another tragic statistic from the world of indiscriminate sexuality is the increase* in the percentage of female students who felt regret or fear after their first experience with sexual intercourse. The percentage of students who engaged in their first act of sexual intercourse while under the influence of alcohol is also on the rise. Of women, 10.6 percent* had intercourse for the first time under the influence of alcohol. On the other side of the coin, 15.6 percent of men were under the influence of alcohol when they had intercourse for the first time.
Alcohol is a powerful influence; it alters thought patterns and judgment. When deciding to have sex, all your mental faculties should be functioning. Sex is risky, but sex and alcohol is twice as dangerous.
A partner may be someone known well or someone met at a bar, but nothing is 100 percent certain. Sometimes the people we think we know best are the people we know the least. We all need to carefully consider the risks we take.
For a large number of students, the risk seems worthwhile, but the repercussions may eventually change our minds. Unfortunately, that is often too late. Hindsight is 20/20, so don't let self-reflection be an image too painful with which to live.
*Statistics are from Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors of Selected Norton University Students in You & Your Sexuality and Family Relations classes 1990-1994.
Christine Hsusej is a sophomore in pre-veterinary medicine.