the outrage of ignorance

Arizona Daily Wildcat

What I learned from the conversation was that out of the five very sexually active men and women talking, only two practice safe sex on a regular basis. One, as an unquestionable rule, and the other only regularly. The individual who said he practiced "regularly" later added that he practices safe sex only when "there's something around." The other three admitted to having unprotected, or unsafe, sex at least three times EACH in the last month.

The three unsafe practitioners were two females and one male and all five were heterosexual. The three "unsafe" individuals further went onto explain that because either a) they refused to wear condoms and their partners were taking birth control pills, or b) they were taking birth control pills themselves, they felt satisfied that their own personal requirements for "safe-sex" were met.

None of these people were involved in long-term monogamous relationships. They felt that they were not in danger of contracting anything because no one they knew had HIV or AIDS, although some admitted that they knew at least one other person that has, or had at one time, an STD.

These individuals showed me that they have no idea what safe sex is. After listening to these people, I realized how ignorant many still are after so many years of health-driven sexual awareness. Talking to these people made me think about the 1980s (to many still considered the sexually transmitted HIV plague years), and how the dark decade of HIV and AIDS has seemingly been forgotten by many.

The group of people I talked to were too young to witness the ravaging effects of what a deadly STD can do. These college-enrolled (supposedly educated) people have learned nothing from those who have died from a disease which is still predominantly sexually transmitted. What's frightening is that these individuals, however ignorant as they are, are not alone. Many feel the same way as they do, and still more are being infected with STDs, a lifestyle flare indicating an eventual meeting with HIV.

Each year, 12 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases occur in the United States.

According to the Journal of American Medicine, people under 24 account for 65 percent of the yearly reported total of all sexually transmitted diseases.

Chlymydia is by far the most prevalent STD with 4 million individuals infected each year. Gonorrhea is second with 1.3 million infected each year, and genital herpes is third with 500, 000 yearly infections.

Four of the five people I had this conversation with didn't even know what chlymydia and gonorrhea are, much less how to stop other STDs from being transmitted.

They didn't know there isn't a cure for genital herpes, and that the complications involved with chlymydia and gonorrhea can be very serious. If someone is not taking the adequate precautions to guard themselves from STDs, then statistically, the chances of contracting HIV and then AIDS are significantly higher.

Despite the hype, there is also no cure for HIV and no cure for AIDS. Great things have happened in medicine to prolong an individual infected with the virus, but still, once you've got it, you've got it. The same goes with many STDs.

What surprised me after talking with these people was that because of the strides made with "cocktail" drugs in combating HIV's transition into full-blown AIDS, they felt that HIV is no longer truly a problem anymore. Their logic ran as such: because they don't really have to worry about HIV and AIDS anymore (!?!), and because none has been or gotten anyone pregnant, that many of them disregarded the possibility of contracting any other type of STD completely.

As the conversation went on to lighter topics, and I had socially contained my outrage, I thought about the futures of these five individuals and if I would ever run into them again. Statistically, if they continue to sexually conduct themselves as they do, my chances of running into them again are dim.