BY ALEX HO

In print | March 8, 2007

You’ve seen their faces on the walls of nearly every building on campus. You know them by name. They are always available to answer your questions about sex. Problem is, you aren’t asking. So, they’ve decided to come to you.

The Sexual Health Counselors have been conducting a survey in response to frequently asked questions like how common STIs are on campus. With the data from this survey, Swarthmore students will hopefully have access to statistics of the sexual practices of the student body for the first time.

Last week, the Sexual Health Counselors held several study breaks in Kohlberg, McCabe and the Science Center, where students could have a little snack and take the survey. The survey is also available online at the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=30572593579.

“The survey is probably the most visible component of a complete organizational overhaul that has been going in the group on for the past few years. We are reevaluating what role the Sexual Health Counselors should play on campus,” sexual health counselor Annie Fredrickson ’07 said.

The survey has been in development for over a year, with the Sexual Health Counselors thinking carefully about what questions to include and extensively revising the survey. “We knew that the biggest misconception around this survey would be that it is some kind of ‘purity test,’ which couldn’t be less true,” Fredrickson said. “The survey is extremely clinical - we don’t ask about orgies or if you’ve ever had sex in the amphitheater - and a lot of thought went into making it that way.”

Sexual health counselor Jessica Bear ’09 added, “We formulated the survey to be informative, specific, gender-neutral and anonymous.”

Asked whether the survey was applicable to those without sexual experience, sexal health counselor Sasha Raskin ‘09 said, "There are several things built into the survey, and anyone with or without any sexual experience should take it. In fact, that’s the portion of the population that we most want to hear from." If a question on the survey does not apply to you and you click no, all subsequent relevant questions will be skipped. For example, with questions regarding a PAP smear, one of the response choices is “I don’t have a vagina.”

To ensure honest responses, the counselors have made the survey anonymous and the questions as clinical as possible. Bradley Dickerson ‘07 said, "I think the survey was very effective because I wasn’t really paying attention to my answers."

Currently, the number of students that have taken the survey is 614 and counting, and the Sexual Health Counselors hope at least half of the student body will take the survey before it closes (tentatively after spring break).

The larger the sample size, the more useful the information drawn from the survey will be. The results that they already have indicate that a large proportion of sexually active students have never been tested for any STIs, including HIV.

Soon after the survey closes, the numerical data will be made available to the campus. The Sexual Health Counselors are also planning to host study breaks and informational sessions around the theme of “What the Sexual Health Survey Means for You.” On top of this, the Sexual Health Counselors will be around to give out condoms and dental dams at the Sager Symposium and plan to screen the movie “Shortbus” in the near future.

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