SHAG Week goes down on UCC

UCC’s annual Sexual Health and Guidance Week or SHAG Week was took place last week. Aiming to make students more aware of their sexual health, the Student’s Union organised various events around campus all week, even making their presence felt in Brookfield on Wednesday. The week-long sexual health campaign had a strong presence around UCC with beds being set up on campus to catch student’s attention. As like previous years the distribution of SHAG packs was one of the organisers primary focuses. Over 2,000 of these packs containing one extra safe condom, a sachet of lube and plenty of sexual health information included information on different forms of contraceptives were distributed.A display box containing condoms was also up for grabs for the student who could guess how many condoms it contained. Nearly 300 hundred students entered this competition, which saw the winner, Biochemistry Student Ian Flynn, take away 483 condoms.Another highlight of the week was provided by the Philosophical Society who held a panel discussion on the effect pornography is having on society. Guest speakers included psychology researcher Dr Robert King, former Big Brother contestant from 2012 and former adult entertainer Mr Benedict Garrett and controversial feminist journalist Julie Bindel.Overall, the week has been praised by the Students’ Union Welfare Officer, Dave Carey as a great success with regards to promoting awareness about sexual health.