Something for everyone
Behold, the condom — a common yet seldom-mentioned part of sex. While many students may feel embarrassed at the prospect of acknowledging their existence, condoms are important in preventing unintended pregnancies and the spread of STIs.
That’s why the University Health Center’s Sexual Health and Reproductive Education program works to “reduce barriers to access,” according to sexual health program coordinator Jenna Beckwith. SHARE provided students with more than 70,000 free condoms and other safety and educational materials last year, and is “keeping our variety stocked,” Beckwith said.
Students can take the condoms from a basket on the ground floor of the health center.
“I see people come individually and come down and grab condoms; I see people come down with a partner; I see people come down with a whole group of friends,” Beckwith said. “I see people come by with a scavenger hunt they’ve been on for class and they all are like, ‘Oh my God, this exists? A condom basket?’ And they take a bunch of condoms and take pictures.”
If students don’t find what they’re looking for in the basket, Beckwith or a student worker will unlock the condom closet, which has about 30 types to choose from — male or female condoms, nonlatex, extra-large, dental dams, lube and even glow-in-the-dark condoms.
“There’s the novelty of it, where someone who’s maybe a little bit more embarrassed about condoms will feel more comfortable checking out a glow-in-the-dark condom,” Beckwith said.
Emily Leonard, a junior ecology and evolution major who works at the health center, said she talks with students about condoms three or four times a day.
“A lot of it is like making them feel comfortable,” she said. “A lot of times people are kind of nervous to approach you.”
Many students said they feel uncomfortable when picking up condoms from the health center.
“My ex-boyfriend would come to the UMD Health Center every once in a while and go to the basket of free condoms and take about 30 and stash them in his backpack and then run out of the health center real fast,” a senior biology major said.
“Yeah, I think there’s a stigma and yeah, it’s just, like, an uncomfortable thing,” Leonard said.
Beyond the health center, SHARE offers group presentations for student organizations, dorms and introductory classes. The program also sends peer educators and its well-stocked condom cart to events such as the Protect Your Shell Fair. In addition to contraceptives, safer sex kits and abstinence kits are also available.
Senior Sarah Singer, a resident assistant in Somerset Hall, found a creative way to make condoms available to students.
“Last year, I offered these condoms to my residents by taping them to my door,” Singer, who was also a SHARE peer educator, wrote in an email. “I arranged them in designs by color and shape. In fact, I once made an HIV/AIDS awareness ribbon using condoms and arranged the other condoms in a frame around it.”
Most of the condoms would disappear “almost immediately,” Singer wrote.
“In my opinion, there are few things more important than understanding how your body works and how to keep yourself healthy, happy, and safe,” she wrote. “The free safer sex mechanisms and informational pamphlets provided by [the health center] do just that.”
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