UB is the 59th most sexually healthy college or university out of the 139 schools on Trojan's third annual Trojan Sexual Health Report Card. Stanford tops the list, and DePaul brings up the rear.
Not that students here should have their days made or broken by a short list released by an arrogant, only-moderately-well-made condom company, but the report card does bring much-needed attention to areas of sexual health that are often ignored.
Before we get into a discussion of alternate definitions of sexual health, it's worth mentioning that Trojan itself is responsible for much of the condom-centered media revolving around sexuality. Thank you, massive advertising campaigns.
Now, Trojan rated these schools on several qualities, including overall knowledge on the part of the student body, availability of sexual health services such as STI testing and availability of varied forms of contraception. If nothing else, their definition of healthy sexuality is pretty fair.
UB's standing has improved over last year's paltry 86th place ranking. Although that was down from 2006, when UB placed 52nd, meaning we are still behind.
Count on Trojan to turn something that should be a ubiquitous standard of knowledge into a competition based on sports standings. Way to set sexual enlightenment back five years, Trojan.
Maybe if this country didn't have such a puritanical view of sex as titillating and stigmatic, we wouldn't have such a varied problem with unplanned pregnancy and various forms of sexually transmitted infections.
Sex is sex and nothing more. It is only what we make it, and apparently the American culture is content to make it part taboo and part status symbol. Sex is like crossing the road: A fundamental part of our lives that needs to be approached with the proper respect to avoid calamity.
Imagine if we had as hard a time speaking honestly about crossing the street as we do with sex: cage bumpers would be a standard of every car on the market.
Sex can be the most intimate act that two people can share, or a simple physical release; it is all in what you make of it. But it will also always be modern society's closest connection to Darwinian natural selection.
Educate yourself and live accordingly, or die. It's as simple as that.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
