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Back to School, Back to Sex
Sex on campus is more casual than ever, say many college students - and more alienating and dangerous, too
By Chris Harris
Page 2 of 4
Such as?
"You know, "I really like you,' or "I've seen you around campus, and I've wanted to talk to you for so long.' "You're so pretty.' "I wanna take you out sometime.' Invite "em to parties, like frat parties and shit, and they're yours."
Right.
Females asked the same question -- "How easy is it to get laid on campus these days?" -- offer a variation on the theme. Jenna, a sophomore, is typical.
"Very. It depends on if you want it. As a girl, if you want it, you can go out and get it. Boom -- there it is. Right there. Basically, it's just a matter of going up to someone," she says. "But, it has to be in the right setting, like if you're out at a bar. You can't go up to someone on campus and expect to get laid. If you're out at a party situation, a bar situation, something where you've got a bunch of college kids partying, you're going to get laid if you want to. Alcohol. It helps."
Alcohol. Yep, alcohol and sex make interesting bedfellows (no pun intended). Alcohol and college date rape go hand in hand as well. Hell, if there's more casual sex on campus, then you could assume that the incidences of date rape would increase proportionately, right? Of course.
One in 12 college males admits to having committed acts that meet the legal definition of rape or acquaintance rape, according to recent data provided by Phoenix House, a residential and outpatient substance-abuse program based in the Midwest. And 55 percent of female students and 75 percent of male students involved in date rape admit to having been drinking or using drugs when the incident occurred. Female college freshmen are at the highest risk for sexual assault, especially between the first day of classes and Thanksgiving break.
But while casual sex, according to sexologists and students, is growing in popularity with the passing of each semester, the use of condoms is on the decline, even in this era of increased awareness of fatal sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV and AIDS. Take James, a junior, for example.
"I never use condoms," he says with pride. "I know I don't have anything, and these girls, they're clean. Half the time I'm so fucked up, a condom's the last thing on my mind, you know what I'm saying? It's like, once you fuck without one, it's hard to go back to that. I want to feel it, you know?"
James is the all-too-frightening norm. More than 85 percent of the students I spoke with -- both at local campuses and others not so local -- admitted they rarely, if ever, use protection. And less than half of those said they'd been tested for HIV within the last year. About half of those students told us they did so to satisfy the concerns of a fearful partner, who vowed to withhold sex until the test was administered.
Today, sexually transmitted diseases, particularly herpes and gonorrhea, are epidemic on campus. According to the most recent data, 60 percent of college women diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease were drunk at the time of infection. At least one out of five drunk college students abandons safe sex practices that they ordinarily use when sober, putting them at greater risk for unplanned pregnancies and AIDS.
More than 134,000 new cases of syphilis occur each year, the highest infection rate in 40 years. About 1.3 million new gonorrhea cases are diagnosed annually, and 24 million new cases of human papillomavirus, which causes genital warts, are diagnosed annually, including a high percentage among teens and young adults.
"No one's using condoms these days. I think everybody's aware of AIDS -- they can't help but be aware of it," says Dr. Vern Bullough, a medical historian who lives in California and specializes in the history of sex, sexual practices and taboos, and the diverse groups of "sex workers." "I don't think the fear of disease has ever really prohibited sexual activity. It's been a fear factor in which many people try to frighten people into not having sex. But it hasn't worked very well."
About 63 percent of all STD cases occur among people younger than 25 years of age.
AIDS is the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44. According to the CDC, one in 1,500 college students is HIV-positive, and the fastest growing populations of Americans infected with HIV are teen-agers and young adults.
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