By Angelica Cheyenne
Staff Writer
California State University, Dominguez Hill’s Associated Students, Inc. hosted the 1990s themed Valentine’s Day event on the East Walkway to educate students about sexual health.
ASI’s Director of Student Services, Carolyn Tinoco, created the event as a way to inform the students about safe sex.
“I had heard that in the last few years there was a rise in [sexually transmitted diseases] among college students,” Tinoco said. “I decided to have an event that would talk about safe sex and consent.”
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, since 2015, there has been an increase in STDs among those ages 15 to 24.
For college students, according to Inside Higher Ed, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are the most contracted STDs in that age group, with over 1.5 million new cases of Chlamydia and 395,000 cases of Gonorrhea.
Some students believe it’s beneficial to have sexual health awareness in college.
“We may overlook actual things we should think [about] with sex,” said Elizabeth Zaragoza, human services major. “It’s an issue. You also have to think about yourself and your partner’s health.”
According to the United States National Library of Medicine, colleges can help their students and reduce the rate of STDs by offering more sexual health resources and information about contraceptive options.
“I think it’s important because every student needs to know how to practice safe sex,” said Stephen Janes, KDHR station manager. “They [students] need to be aware, and they just need to know what the consequences would be.”
