Sexitas: Sexual Health at Harvard

With thousands of young adults suddenly free of the parental yoke, it is no surprise that sex plays a large role in college. And with sex comes the necessity for colleges to engage students in sexual health conversations that encourage and support safe and healthy sexual decisions. These conversations are especially pertinent given that students come with different levels of knowledge about the matter: college may be the first time many students experience sex at all.
Currently, such dialogue is lacking on Harvard’s campus. During the freshman class’s Opening Days, the college traditionally holds mandatory workshops on important topics including sexual assault, alcohol safety, and diversity. However, this year the college provided no workshops on sexual health. This lack of sexual health education and support pervades life at Harvard even after freshman year. Condom availability on campus is spotty, particularly in Harvard Yard. Furthermore, condom dispensers are rare, often empty, and stationed in buildings that may cause students discomfort. While Harvard does not need to go as far as the College of New Jersey and drive a condom ambulance around campus, it can improve through initiating a dialogue with students on sexual health and better encouraging healthy decisions.
Condom Usage
Increasing the use of condoms on campus has long been regarded as a matter of public health. In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control found that nearly half of the 20 million sexually transmitted infections contracted each year affect young people ages 15 to 24. Reportedly, by the age of 25, one in two sexually active people will have contracted a sexually transmitted infection. The spread of STIs may be increasing in colleges today because of the prevalence of so-called “hookup culture,” on display at weekend parties and on social media apps like Tinder.
This high rate of STIs among young people coincides with a recent decrease in condom usage. During the AIDS epidemic of the 1990s, condom usage on college campuses reached its peak, when about 60 percent of students told CDC researchers that they used condoms. However, in a more recent survey by the American College Health Association, less than 50 percent of college students answered that they “always or mostly” use condoms. A recent study published by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada supported the ACHA findings, showing that nearly 50 percent of sexually active college students are not using condoms. And researchers from the Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventative Medicine found that “women gradually use condoms less frequently during their first year of college.”
Sexual Health Dialogue
In spite of these startling statistics, there is minimal dialogue around sexual health on Harvard’s campus. While countless student groups crowd Opening Days eager to give workshops or lead discussions for freshmen, little is said about sexual health. Harvard Dean of Freshmen Thomas Dingman told the HPR that Opening Days does not feature a “conversation that’s particularly robust about sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases. … I don’t think we do a particularly good job.”
Dingman noted that numerous groups push the Freshman Dean’s Office to add more programming to the Opening Days agenda, making the choice over new additions to the schedule a yearly challenge. Regardless, the College already employs many external resources and student groups, such as the Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors, for Opening Days workshops. Using the same strategy, the College can use student groups focused on sexual health to begin an important dialogue with freshmen from the start of college.
Even after freshman orientation, any dialogue that does exist around sexual health remains insufficient. Sexual Health Education and Advocacy Throughout Harvard launched its annual Sex Week on November 2, featuring opportunities for students to attend discussions and workshops on sexual health. However, Sex Week occurs during a week when many students are burdened with midterm exams, making them less likely to attend these events than during the first several weeks of the semester.
In a written statement, the Harvard University Health Services’ Department of Health Promotion and Education (HPE) announced that it is “currently working to expand the sexual health curriculum on campus” and is “working closely with [Harvard Sexual Health and Relationship Counselors, or SHARC] to develop Harvard’s first Sexual Health 101 workshop.” The HPE believes that this workshop “will be the first step in creating more open dialogue about sexual health on campus.” Charlie Lovett ’15, co-director of SHARC, believes these workshops are crucial for basic sexual health information, such as, “how to put on a condom; what is a dental dam; what is a female condom; how do I get tested at UHS; will my parents find out; if I want to get free birth control, is that an option; what about emergency contraception?” SHARC’s workshop will fill an urgent gap in sexual health education for students and, if implemented for all students, will provide the college with an avenue to begin the conversation on sexual health.
Taking Action
Harvard has great potential to both improve students’ knowledge about sexual health and foster an environment of safe sexual activity. The National Campaign to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Advocates for Youth has shown that comprehensive sexual education can both increase condom usage and lead to a significant decline in STIs. The Sexual Health 101 workshop can begin the conversation about sexual health on campus with freshmen, especially if the College adds it to mandatory Opening Days activities. Lovett told the HPR that this workshop is “the first workshop that talks about sexual health on campus in Harvard history” and that the historic lack of discussion is “ridiculous.” He said that it “shouldn’t be on students to actively seek out” sexual health information. Rather, this information is “something that everyone should know.”
Moreover, increased accessibility of condoms has demonstrated unmistakable results in students’ sexual behavior. A Sex Information and Education Council of Canada study concludes that “making condoms accessible to young people does not result in earlier or more frequent sexual activity.” Rather, “condom distribution programs can significantly increase condom use among teens who are sexually active,” driving down the number of sexually transmitted infections. Dingman has previously expressed support for increasing condom accessibility, stating, “Whatever we can do to make it easy, we should do.”
Meanwhile, many students are not even aware of those condoms that are already available on campus. When asked whether students are aware of these resources, Dingman told the HPR, “[the FDO] thinks we’ve done a good job of putting condoms out in places that people frequent and getting the word out that they’re there. And then we hear students say, ‘I don’t know anything about it.’”
Another problem for condom accessibility at the College is a stigma surrounding the locations at which condoms are available. Although there are many locations providing free condoms—freshman dorms, upperclassman houses, peer counseling centers, the Center for Wellness, the Women’s Center, the Office of BGLTQ Student Life, and the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response—there is a risk that students will feel insecure or nervous at these locations because they are uncomfortable taking condoms in the presence of others. Dingman told the HPR that if condoms are only available “in an arena [students are] unfamiliar with or [students] feel awkward in, then we are not doing a very good job.”
The levels of unsafe sex and sexually transmitted infections at Harvard are “on par with national standards,” according to Lovett. He concluded, “Whether … you choose to have sex or not to have sex, it’s great to have the resources and the tools so that you can help someone else make their own decision, or so the decision you’re making is one you’re comfortable with.” Harvard should take charge in improving sexual health education and condom accessibility, setting an example for colleges across the nation.