Stay safe, stay sexy | Annie Hoey

Features Editor Annie Hoey discusses safe sex in preparation for SHAG Week.Ah SHAG Week. Sexual Health, Awareness, and Guidance Week. The joyous week in the UCC calendar where we get to celebrate all things sexy (and grimace at some scary images of some things that are not so sexy that can be an unfortunate side effect of not-so-safe sexy time). Recently USI (Union of Students Ireland) lunched a website entirely dedicated to issue pertaining to sexual health (www.shag.usi.ie). The website covers a range of issues and topics ranging from information on how to have safer sex, to the location of your nearest STI clinic.It is important to note that the importance of SHAG Week is not to scare the bejaysus out of students and put them off sex for life. Yes, some of the statistics can be scary, and some of the STIs one can catch even scarier, but that is not the sole purpose of the week. It is also about promoting the importance of having a healthy sex life and relationship with your own body. Notably, the website also highlights the choice of abstinence as being a part of your sexual health. Often, the decision to remain abstinent can be met with scorn and the assumption that the person in question therefore has no business taking their sexual health into consideration. It is refreshing that a website dedicated to sexual health, especially one for students, acknowledges that every person ought take care of their sexual health (which can have a carry on effect into your mental and physical health), whether they are currently sexually active or not.Sexual heath does not only take in looking after your own body and mind, but also taking into account your sexual partner’s health too. Practising safe sex lowers your risk of contracting an STI, and also from passing one on. Obviously enough it also lowers the risk of an unplanned pregnancy! All too often, I hear people considering an unplanned pregnancy being the only possible risk from having unprotected sex.  And this can also pose a problem in relation to two people of the same sex having sexual relations as sometimes once the threat of pregnancy is removed from the situation suddenly the idea of using any form of protection flies out the window and people engage in risky behaviour (same sex couple can still transmit STIs you know!!)It is an unfortunate thing in our education system that we are not properly taught about safe sex and the importance of using contraception as not only a means of preventing unwanted pregnancy but also as a way of stopping transmission of STIs. As a result of our former Catholic overlords, and the effect that is still having on our country’s morals and ability to openly talk about things pertaining to sexual activity and sexuality, sex is still seen solely as a method of procreation (in terms of our education about it at least) and thus we are only taught about ways of stopping said procreation.Certainly, in my secondary school there was no mention of the possibility of catching STIs from having unprotected sex. Rather we were warned about how our lives would be ruined if we fell pregnant and we were to avoid that at all costs (admittedly it was a former convent full of 1,200 girls but still). It is as a result of these poor sex education that we still hear of people loathe to practising safe sex- the notorious “it feels better when I don’t wear a condom” (becoming an unplanned parent would feel a lot worse I imagine), “I will pull out beforehand” and other such rubbish that I have heard. Perhaps if we had better sex education as teenagers, there would not be as many unplanned pregnancies or such rampant STIs (maybe not but I am pretty confident in my suppositions). This is why SHAG Week is so, so very important in Irish universities.Another important aspect of SHAG Week is raising awareness on the importance of sexual health screening amongst students. It is shocking how many people I have spoken to who have been sexually active for years but have never ever gone for an STI screening- the mind boggles! Admittedly, many students do not know where to go, or else they have been put off by terrifying tales of embarrassing examinations and painful swabs (neither of which is true). Information on and contact details on your local STI clinic can be found on USI’s website, by asking UCC’S Welfare Officer Dave Carey, by popping into the student health centre… the list goes on. So there really isn’t an excuse.So basically what I am trying to say is that SHAG Week is great. It is vital for students to be aware of the importance of having a healthy relationship with sex, to know about the facts, signs, and risks in relation to STIs, to know where to go if they have questions/concerns/want an STI screening/concerned they may be pregnant, and to also be aware that it is ok to have sex and to enjoy it! SHAG Week helps break down some of the taboos associated with talking openly about sex, which in turn, will hopefully encourage people to become more comfortable with being sexual beings and a little less of the giggling-at-the-back-of-the-classroom attitude that we have going on. So go out, grab a SHAG Week pack. Stay safe. Stay sexy.