Switched-On :: Blog

Listen to the condom

A powerful three words or letters that can change a person’s life.  It is shocking to find out that you of  all people have a STD. You thought to yourself that you would always be careful and always get tested. Then one day you go to the doctor because something is suspicious. A couple weeks later your doctor tells you that you have a STD. That happened to a friend of mine. Luckily she got one that could be cured. She was happy about that but wondered where in the world it came from. Her boyfriend was clean. She couldn’t think of any way that she could have caught it. She received the antibiotics for it and hopefully she will be cured. I’m really happy that she has a curable disease but not everyone is so lucky. Anyone can get an STD and it isn’t that hard. The next time you decide to have sex with someone you like make sure they are clean or at least wear protection.

- Tatiana

Recently, as I’ve met more people at college, I’ve noticed the presence of the issue of teenage pregnancy more. Personally I’ve met quite a few teenagers who are currently pregnant or have already had a child and returned to school. I see teenage pregnancy as the result of an increasing open-mindedness about sexual relationships coupled with inadequate sexual education, that or just thoughtlessness in general. Of course, I’m not saying that there aren’t people out there who intended to have a child for their loved one as a teenager but that seems to be a rare phenomenon in this era where couples usually don’t have their first child until they are financially stable — most teenage pregnancies seem to be accidental. Teenagers are exposed to sex a lot earlier and easier than before and the sexual education doesn’t seem to be keeping up, so it ends up that they either aren’t using condoms or birth-control at all, or they’re not using it properly, which leads to these accidents. Personally, I think schools and parents should be more open-minded to sexual education so that they can properly educate their children so that if they’re being exposed to shows with sexual innuendo or content, it’d be less likely for them to commit irreversible mistakes.

- Vivian