The next time you're getting lucky, you might want to think about what else you're getting. One in three sexually active people will contract a sexually transmitted infection by the time they are 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The incidence of STIs on campus most likely reflects figures like these, said Naomi Ninneman, an educator at Health Services.
"You have everybody coming from all over the country and all over the world to the Brown campus, with a diversity of circumstances and backgrounds," she said. "It's not like Brown is somehow isolated from the rest of the world."
Though teens and young adults constitute only a quarter of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half of STI diagnoses each year, according to reports by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to research in sexual and reproductive health.
Still, some say their fellow students seem unaware of this reality or prefer to deny the possibility they could be at risk.
"I would say there's a lot of paranoia about it, but that people don't ever think it's something that's going to happen to them," said Amy Littlefield '09, a founding member of the University's Sexual Assault Task Force and a sex columnist for post-, The Herald's arts and culture weekly. "People try as much as possible to block it out when they're having sex," she said.
One student, who requested anonymity, said the topic of STIs only came up once - when she saw her boyfriend waiting in line to get an HIV test. "I was like, 'Were you not going to tell me about this?' " she said. "I guess maybe he was worried that I'd get offended or suspicious."
Sasha Link '10, a Women Peer Counselor, said students hesitate to talk about getting tested because of the stigma surrounding the topic.
"I think for women primarily it's very taboo because there's the idea that if you go get STI testing, it's because you were being promiscuous." For men, the stigma comes from the assumption that if they seek testing, it's because they have been "engaging in sexual activity with a girl who's considered a slut," she said.
Despite these perceptions, statistics show more students are getting tested. Edward Wheeler, director of Health Services, said in the 22 years he has worked at Health Services he has seen an increase in the number of students who seek testing for STIs. Wheeler said Health Services administered 1,001 chlamydia tests, 865 gonorrhea tests, 241 syphilis tests and 600 HIV tests in calendar year 2006. Wheeler said at least 80 percent of students who are screened show no symptoms and that many are "very low risk" but want to be sure they are being safe and honest with their partners.
"Students are advocating more for their health," Wheeler said. "(They) are more aware than they were five to 10 years ago about STIs and screening for them."
Wheeler could not provide the number of positive test results, but he said he doesn't perceive a "marked increase" in chlamydia or gonorrhea in recent years - though he knows there has been an increase in the incidence of human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Nationally, approximately half of sexually active females between the ages of 20 and 24 are infected with the virus. Ninneman, who worked for Planned Parenthood for seven years before starting at Brown this year, said she has definitely noticed an increasing awareness about HPV. Still, Littlefield said HPV is something that "nobody has any idea about, and it's huge."
Link said health educators emphasized the prevalence of HPV - and the recently released vaccine - during training sessions for Residential Peer Leaders in late August.
Health Services began offering the vaccine last September and has since administered 807 shots, Wheeler said. But he said it is impossible to know how many women have received a full vaccination, which requires three shots administered several months apart.
Link said she keeps pamphlets and charts containing information about STIs on her door, but none of her first-years have approached her to ask questions about these issues. She's not sure whether this is because they are already knowledgeable or they are uncomfortable discussing the topic. "I think it's an awkward situation since I am the same age as some of them," Link said.
Link and Littlefield agreed that students rarely talk seriously about STIs, which leads to a false perception of their prevalence. Link said she does not know of anyone who has gone to Health Services to be tested for an STI.
These reasons may explain why organic chemistry exams are a more common topic of conversation among friends than STI tests - though many might consider them equally unpleasant.
