After she had been in college for a year, second-year physiological science student Victoria Muchnik said she noticed students would talk a lot more about their sex lives in high schools, but at UCLA, fewer and fewer students would talk about the sexual aspects of their lives.
This is not because high school students are more sexually active than college students, but rather because being sexually active is more of a rarity in adolescence so “people think that it’s cool,” she said.
In a college environment where students say having sex seems to have become the norm, on-campus health services have helped students learn more about preventing sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies through methods of contraception.
Ann Brooks, a nurse practitioner at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center and nurse manager of the women’s health service, said UCLA has lower rates of sexual activity and incidences of sexually transmitted infection, the technical term for sexually transmitted diseases, than other university campuses.
“Because we hear so much about sexual activity, it surprises me how low our numbers are,” Brooks said.
But she added, because of what students might hear through outside media or their peers, there might be a distorted perception that sexual activity is more common than it is in reality.
According to 2002 statistics from the last survey conducted by the Ashe Center, a little more than half of UCLA students are sexually active and 92 percent are protecting themselves from STIs or pregnancy either by abstaining or by using protection.
Only 3.1 percent of the sample reported being diagnosed with an STI in the past year.
But despite how low the statistics are, Brooks said because students have more independence and freedom in college, they are more exposed to sex and more likely to engage in intercourse.
“I think there’s a limitation (on exposure) when you’re with your parents or at home. When you go away to college, you have a lot of opportunities around you and if your friends are being sexually active, then there’s an opportunity for people (to have sex),” Brooks said.
Brooks added that alcohol consumption in college serves as a risk factor for contracting STIs.
When under the influence of alcohol, 14.7 percent of students, as opposed to 4.1 percent when sober, did not use a condom or any other form of protection, according to the survey.
Services on campus, such as gender-specific health service and the Ashe Center, provide confidential screenings for STIs and contraceptive services, from condoms to the pill, even a birth control shot.
“For some people, this is the time of their life where they get experience with sexual activity and our thing is that they do it safely. We’d like for people to know where their resources are so they can learn to take care of themselves and keep themselves safe,” said Evelyn Desser, a nurse practitioner at the Ashe Center.
The Ashe Center puts on programs and sets up booths on the Hill and on campus as incoming freshmen enter into a new, more mature and more independent part of their life.
“I think it’s good to have the information fresh in mind when you’re coming into a situation where you are going to have more opportunities or more pressure or whatever it takes when people become sexually active,” Brooks said.
On the Hill there is also the Student Health Advocates program, which provides condoms and health information, as well as over-the-counter medicine.
Desser said it is important for students to feel comfortable with their sexual partner.
“One of the key concepts is not to engage in anything that you would regret later. Do only what you would feel comfortable with. Honor yourself. Don’t let someone else talk you into something you’re not ready for,” she said.