Reflection: Sexual Health Lecture

Reflection Piece for Health and Wellness:

During one of our class lectures, Katy Janousek, a sexual health specialist at the University Health Center, came and spoke to us about sexual health and contraception use.  This lecture was very interesting, as well as funny, because Katy made the material relatable to us college students.  Instead of preaching about abstinence, she gave us educational facts and information about all aspects of sexual health: contraception, STD’s and STI’s, and interesting statistics.  She was very easy to talk with and ask questions to, which made the lecture that much better.  Katy also got into taboo topics that I think a lot of college students are afraid to talk about, but are dying to know about.

Katy began by talking about the types of STI’s and how they are different: parasitic, fungal, bacterial, and viral.  She then went on to discuss how easily these infections are transmitted due to low condom usage and poor education about the diseases.  Katy also further explained the modes of transmission: body fluid and skin to skin.  Another topic she got into was contraception use and the different types.  I think many students were surprised how many options there are out there, and Katy went into detail about all of them.  She weighed the pros and cons about the different types such as the pill, the shot, the ring, IUD’s, and plan B.

This topic impacts a lot of college students because there is a huge percentage that is sexually active today.  Most people are not as sexual aware as they should be, and it is always a good thing to be reminded about STI prevention/treatment and correct contraception use.  Sexual health definitely impacts our population socially.  There is a lot of pressure from peers and classmates to ‘fit in’ and there’s also a lot of pressure from significant others to be sexually active.  Therefore, it is very important to be educated about all aspects of it.  Also, guys as well as girls need to be educated about it.  Katy explained it well when she brought up the fact that guys think it’s the girls’ responsibility to handle taking the pill and they have nothing else to worry about.  However, it’s very important that both people are educated about contraception use.  Sexual health can also impact college students in a religious way as well.  Some people are waiting and practicing abstinence due to religious reasons.  However, it is still important for them to become educated and learn facts for the future.  Being sexual active can lead to many other things in life such as children and diseases, which all have enormous impacts in your daily life.

Sexual health is important to public health because it’s a topic that people need to become more educated and concerned about.  The sexually active population is becoming larger, and many teens are beginning to become sexually active at an earlier age.  In order to help prevent disease and infection transmission, sexual health needs to become more prominent in today’s society.  It has often been a topic that is overlooked or a ‘taboo’ topic, which has made a lot of people uncomfortable to discuss or learn about it.  Young populations also need to learn the consequences of becoming sexually active, such as pregnancy and infections, prior to making their decision.

After hearing Katy discuss sexual health, I feel like I have a much better grasp of the topic than I did before.  However, I still have many questions about the different types of contraception.  I’m very curious as to which one she would recommend for college students and why.  I also would like to know how this issue can be better promoted in schools and what other ways it can be promoted throughout the country. 

Allie Haddon

Jessie Kroll

Michelle Reed