Complete with prosthetics of both the female and male genitalia, students learned how to properly put on condoms and dental dams when Student Health Services got the jump on National Condom Day, spreading knowledge and awareness Thursday at Cal State Long Beach.
National Condom Day was officially on Sunday, Feb. 14, but Student Health Services said it recognized the need to hand out free condoms before the weekend.
“It’s Thursday, leading into the weekend, Valentine’s Day is coming up, so we knew we had to come out now,” said Heidi Girling, the coordinator of the Health Resource Center at Student Health Services.
According to Girling, half of young adults aged 18-25 will get an STD by the age of 25. Girling emphasized the importance of normalizing the use of condoms and practicing safe sex to achieve healthier sex lives.
“There’s so much wrapped up in sex mentally, meaning we come from religious families that can create guilt or shame,” Girling said. “If somebody comes from a family where sex is not talked about and it’s not normalized as a healthy experience that we all pretty much engage in, then their attitudes and likelihood of accepting themselves as a sexual being becomes even more complicated.”
The outreach program was held in the Maxson Plaza located in front of Brotman Hall on the second floor. Workers and volunteers passed out condoms to students passing by, and the program included games and demonstrations of proper condom usage where students were able to practice on the prosthetics.
Alongside the Health Resource Center, the Center for Latino Community Health also handed out free condoms. The group is responsible for putting the recently added free condom dispensers in various bathrooms located throughout the University Student Union. Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the condom dispensers are part of a two-year plan to make condoms more accessible.
As part of their Salud a la Vida program, the group promoted their upcoming sexual health workshops which are aimed at but not limited to the Latino community.
“We’re having workshops to promote safer sex practices and HIV prevention,” said Diana Aguirre, the graduate health educator with the Center for Latino Community Health. She is working on her masters in public health.
The Center for Latino Community Health provides free HIV testing with results in one minute, hosted by Bienestar.
Lizeth Vazquez, a first year student majoring in nutrition dietetics, stopped at the demonstration for some games and free condoms. She’s 18 years old and said she will be utilizing the resources offered to her on campus. She said she never had proper sex education in high school.
“When they do this stuff it’s great because I come and ask questions, and I find out stuff. It’s the best way I find out about things. I personally love it,” Vazquez said.
She admitted she doesn’t know much about birth control and is glad to have a place where she can ask questions and find out the information she needs.
Marisil Guiterrez, peer educator at the HRC, gives prizes to students who participated in educational games to teach about safe sex.
CSULB Student Health Services place kiosks near Maxson Plaza to show students how to apply a condom the correct way.
The Center for Latino Community Health Evaluation and Leadership place condom dispensers in restrooms on Monday and offered free Valentine condom grams at their booth.