Feb. 25, 2005
www.guilfordian.com
Talkback: letters to the Editor
In response to Letter concerning 'Sex
I 0 the editor:
I am replying to Ms.
Hollifield's recent editorial
concerning Sam Kittle's
"Sex and the Semester" col
umn.
My response is based
upon my perspectives as an
AIDS Fellow, someone with
fairly conservative personal
morals, but most of all, as a
student experiencing the
reality of Guilford College.
Ms. Hollifield asked, "Do
college students at Guilford
really need advice about
sex?"
In a nation where fifteen
million new cases of sexual
ly transmitted diseases are
diagnosed annually, and
where over one in five of
North Carolina's new HIV
diagnoses are college stu
dents, my answer is a
resounding yes.
Certainly, Ms. Hollifield
would agree that these real
ities of unsafe sex are too
devastating to ignore. But
scare tactics alone will not
constitute the comprehen
sive, realistic sex education
Continued from Page 14
Sam is a female and from what I
gather, a heterosexual one, mean
ing that she is writing about what is
familiar to her. So it might be diffi
cult for her to gear her experiences
towards homosexual relationships
as you put it.
I used to write a column similar
to hers in high school so I think
Sam was bold and honest with her
article.
My friends and I found it to be
the most enjoyable article in the
paper last week as we read it over
lunch in the Underground and we
would love for it to stay in The
Guilfbrdian ... KUDOS SAM!
-Alana Hoare
First Year
that students desperately
need.
Abstinence-only educa
tion ignores reality.
Professors at Columbia and
Yale Universities recently
surveyed 12,000 teenagers
aged 12-18 who pledged to
abstain from sex. When a
follow-up survey occurred
six years later, eighty-eight
percent of teenagers who
had pledged not to engage
in premarital sex had (com
pared to ninety-nine percent
of those who did not
pledge).
While the "pledgers"
tended to engage in sex
later in life, married earlier,
and had fewer partners,
only forty percent of males
used condoms when they
actually had sex, whereas
fifty-nine percent of the
"non-pledgers" used con
doms.
Additionally, both the
"pledgers" and the "non
pledgers" had a similar
prevalence of sexually
transmitted diseases.
The best approach to sex
education is one that, while
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certainly acknowledging
abstinence as the only
guaranteed method of pre
venting sexually transmitted
diseases and pregnancy,
also recognizes the fact that
the vast majority of
Americans will engage in
premarital sexual activity.
Options like serial
monogamy, birth control
pills, condom use, and
"lower-risk" types of sex (for
instance, the risk for HIV
transmission through oral
sex is significantly less than
through anal sex), can sig
nificantly reduce the spread
of certain sexually transmit
ted diseases and/or
unplanned pregnancies.
Most importantly, howev
er, sex education should
empower students to nego
tiate when, if, and with
whom they will engage in
sex. This would eradicate
the emotional trauma that
Ms. Hollifield fears would
result from sex.
Students should learn to
establish their own personal
boundaries based upon
their individual comfort
level, and not feel guilty for
having these boundaries,
nor should they pressure
others to cross their own.
Ms. Hollifield additionally
mentioned the temptations
that would inevitably result
from co-ed housing. Having
lived in co-ed housing for
nearly two years myself, I
disagree. I have developed
friendships that have
strengthened my ability to
communicate with the oppo
site sex.
While abstinence is the best
option for preventing sexu
ally transmitted diseases
and pregnancy, it is never
theless an option, and an
unpopular one at that.
Teachers and parents -
not just at the college level
but at home, in middle and
high school -must prepare
students with factual knowl
edge to make decisions
regarding a very intimate
aspect of their lives.
Ultimately, however, stu
dents must make their own
choices about sex.
Erin Burns
Sophomore
Greensboro. N.C
Iraq vote is meaning
less until US leaves
We are truly living in some inter
esting and historic times.
The people of Iraq have finally been
given the opportunity, after decades
under the control of an oppressive dic
tator, to voice their opinions about who
should rule their country.
But I guarantee that not one Iraqi
person voted for the U.S. in the recent
elections.
We must allow the Iraqi people to
have control of their country. As long as
there is an American presence, Iraqis
will not be able to run their government
and the power will remain in American
hands.
They don't want us there and no
Americans, other than those who are
profiting off of this crusade or those
that have been fooled by Bush's lies
and ridiculous claims, want to be there
either.
I am always amazed at the logic
used by our leaders when they believe
that there will be peace created by a
bloody war.
There is no way that invading a
country where people already want to
attack us can make us safer, especially
since we completely ignored this
nation's sovereignty and neglected to
get the support of the global communi
ty, not to mention the false justification
we used for invading.
We should have never gone into Iraq
and there is definitely no reason why
we should remain there. As great as it
is that the Iraqi people have finally
voted, it will be meaningless for as long
as the US makes its presence known
where it is not wanted.
It is so ironic that the US Empire tries
to justify its expansion by saying that
they are spreading the system of
democracy, something that does not
even exist at home. All the while they
fail to mention the benefits that certain
rich white dudes receive from these
immoral practices.
I pray that Bush doesn't come to
believe that our God wants him to con
quer Iran.
Kyle Brebner
Junior
wr.r w— nw
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