Safe Sex

Here at Terps for Choice we like to encourage students who are sexually active to engage in safer-sex practices. A few reminders that you might find helpful, especially as you go back to school this year:

• Most Sexually Transmitted Infections are asymptomatic, so if you have one you probably don't know it. HPV is the most commonly spread STI at the University of Maryland. Not only is HPV the virus that causes genital warts, it is the virus that has been linked to cervical cancer, and it is spread by skin-to-skin contact, so you may want to be a little more careful about what you are doing and who you are doing it with.
• Condoms should always be your primary method of birth control and STI prevention. It is okay to use birth control pills or other methods as a back-up to condoms, but condoms are the only real way to prevent STIs. (Technically abstinence is also an available "method" but if you believe in that you probably aren't reading this.) If you need to obtain condoms quietly and discreetly, try ordering them online from www.condom.com or www.condomania.com.
  
• Emergency Contraception, or The Morning After Pill is available from the Campus Health Center and is more effective the sooner you take it, so don't waste time thinking "well, the condom broke but maybe I'll be okay" or "I just finished my period so I shouldn't worry". Just call 301-314-8184 and get EC as soon as possible.
  
• Try not to combine drugs and alcohol with sex. There can be many negative consequences to drinking or doing drugs before hooking up, from unprotected sex to date rape. The more impaired you are, the easier it is for somebody to take advantage of you.
  
• If you do plan to have sex away from your nightstand, carry multiple condoms with you. Having a condom on hand that breaks will lead to frustrated dissapointment or bad choices like unprotected sex.
  
• Visit the doctor or gynocologist regularly, especially if you are having sex with multiple partners frequently. Remember-you should go for a checkup annually no matter what.