2008 Woodie Awards
Minus the City - The Serious One
Erin Bergman & Kimmy Cunningham
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Commentary
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OMG. Did you hear that three people got diagnosed with HIV at the Health Center this semester? Yep, we heard the rumor. And guess what? It's not true. However, it did get us thinking that an article on sexual health might be warranted. Even though the health center verified that three students have not been diagnosed, the possibility that HIV and other STDs have infiltrated our bubble is a scary thought. When we first heard the rumor, we were shocked. But after further consideration, we realized this isn't such a far-fetched scenario: girl goes abroad; girl meets French "model"; you know…girl comes back to campus and sleeps with ex-boyfriend. Turns out Monsieur "Model" ain't so clean. Next thing you know, an entire group of friends has The Clap.
We decided it was time to get online and do some research. The first site that popped up was a statement released by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) that said rates of Chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea are climbing for the first time in a decade. There were more than 1,000,000 cases of Chlamydia diagnosed in the US last year alone. Think about it: there probably aren't many 85-year-old women or 10-year-old boys contracting this STD. You do the math. We're in the most sexually active and promiscuous age bracket, which means it's safe to assume a high percentage of these cases are found in kids like us.
We wanted an expert opinion on the venereal disease situation at Colgate, so we interviewed the famous Dr. Miller at the Health Center. She began by telling us, "Kids know the facts, but that doesn't always transmit into the bedroom." And, it's true. We have been thoroughly educated about the risks of many of these STDs, but a bottle of tequila later, getting the pants of that fine sophomore playing Stronger on his acoustic guitar seems more important than worrying about the possibility of genital warts. Now we're not actually saying that Mr. Phi Tau (excuse us, Mr. Colgate) has any sort of STD, but it is true that there are kids on this campus that do.
We decided it was time to get online and do some research. The first site that popped up was a statement released by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) that said rates of Chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea are climbing for the first time in a decade. There were more than 1,000,000 cases of Chlamydia diagnosed in the US last year alone. Think about it: there probably aren't many 85-year-old women or 10-year-old boys contracting this STD. You do the math. We're in the most sexually active and promiscuous age bracket, which means it's safe to assume a high percentage of these cases are found in kids like us.
We wanted an expert opinion on the venereal disease situation at Colgate, so we interviewed the famous Dr. Miller at the Health Center. She began by telling us, "Kids know the facts, but that doesn't always transmit into the bedroom." And, it's true. We have been thoroughly educated about the risks of many of these STDs, but a bottle of tequila later, getting the pants of that fine sophomore playing Stronger on his acoustic guitar seems more important than worrying about the possibility of genital warts. Now we're not actually saying that Mr. Phi Tau (excuse us, Mr. Colgate) has any sort of STD, but it is true that there are kids on this campus that do.
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