If you read the Texts From Last Night website, you’ve probably seen this:’ ‘(928): i really did not know you could catch crabs from a sofa until now,’ or something like it.
Funny, right? It is until you really think about it. Then you realize some poor person got crabs from a couch. That’s some serious bad luck on one end, and some serious carelessness on the other.
We’re not your parents. We don’t want to have ‘the talk’ with you. But we will say one thing, even if it’s painfully uncomfortable. When you’re doing whatever it is you do on weekends, be careful. Maybe you’ve had a few too many drinks and that girl looks a lot like Lindsay Lohan circa ‘Mean Girls.’ That’s fine. We won’t judge you. But if you have an STD, don’t do it. Don’t know if you do? Get tested.
Yes, it can be uncomfortable and expensive. But it’s not nearly as uncomfortable and expensive as actually having an STD. A test will cost around $100 and you’ll endure a few minutes of discomfort. An STD could cost you hundreds of dollars in medication and constant, maybe even permanent, discomfort. Plus, you can pretty much kiss your sex life goodbye.
Today The News published a story on this unpleasant subject. What started as a simple look at college students and STDs resulted in some surprising discoveries ‘- the most shocking of which is that so many students have STDs, but very few get tested.
According to UHCS statistics, 75 percent of women and 50 percent of men that have an STD didn’t realize it. Those numbers don’t bode well for even the most selective person. You and your partner (sorry, there’s no un-parental way to say that) may know and trust each other, but you could unwittingly give each other an STD.
We also got some typical but important advice from Andrea Montagno, a nurse practitioner at Northeastern’s University Health & Counseling Services (UHCS).
‘The message is always protect yourself,’ she said. ‘Never think that someone doesn’t have [an STD] just because they don’t have any symptoms.’
Chances are, every single person is thinking the same thing now:’ Being a college student doesn’t make me a skank. We get it, we’re students too. No one wants to be talked down to. But the fact is that people make mistakes, especially when they’ve had too much to drink. When Dr. Drew spoke at Northeastern last week, it was apparent from the long discussion about hook-ups that they are not only common, but frequently alcohol-fueled. As The News reported last Monday, men in the audience admitted to drinking to induce beer goggles and women admitted to using alcohol as an excuse for poor choices.
Of course, there are students who don’t drink and aren’t having sex. If that’s you, you can probably stop reading now. You know you’re safe. But to everyone else, we hope you’ll think twice before that random hook-up and we hope you’ll get tested.
It’s unrealistic to preach abstinence and it’s obnoxious to do any preaching at all. So we’re advising you – students to students – to be careful.
And remember what Coach Carr said in ‘Mean Girls:’ ‘Don’t have sex, because you will get pregnant and die. Don’t have sex in the missionary position, don’t have sex standing up, just don’t do it. OK, promise? OK, now everybody take some rubbers.’
