Spring Break
Abstinence events meaningful part of Sexapalooza
Angela Gill
Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: Forum
As a regular reader of The Daily Barometer, and a student here on campus, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Op-Ed about abstinence on Friday. I would like to address some of the things mentioned in the column, but as a quick disclaimer, I am bound to be a bit open with my personal experiences.
I would like to publicly address some of the statements in the column, not as an attack, but rather letting everyone know the work I do and have been doing while on campus. I am a Health Promotion Assistant in the Health Promotion Department on campus, which recently put on SEXapalooza '09. It was addressed whether or not there were any abstinent individuals on the committee that put the week on, and yes … I am one of them. It was my goal to contribute during the meetings as the person heading the "Making Love without Doing It" event, which was presented Monday, March 2, 2009 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Being an assistant in this department for close to four years now, there became a time where I thought that sexual health events needed to better reflect abstinence, rather than just mentioning it amongst all the other methods. That time came about a year ago when my life drastically changed in the best possible way it could have. It was at that time that I knew I would never be satisfied with just having abstinence mentioned. I felt that it needed to be discussed, recognized and completely considered as a realistic sexual health method. Thus "SexLESS in the City" was created.
As another event put on by the Health Promotion Department, I had creative freedom to create and implement what I thought I would successfully say to the campus, that abstinence can be used. The event was laid back and included a student panel willing to share their experiences with abstinence, and the turnout was amazing. I had never imagined that the welcome for the event would be so warm, and it strengthened my conviction that events like these should always be available on campus. The support from the Health Promotion Department has been amazing and has shown me that they realize the importance of abstinence. I have also been responsible for creating the "Abstinence Defined by Me" portion within the Safer Sex party, which ironically enough, I worked to create too, right before life as I knew it would change forever. My values changed as part of that.
I would like to publicly address some of the statements in the column, not as an attack, but rather letting everyone know the work I do and have been doing while on campus. I am a Health Promotion Assistant in the Health Promotion Department on campus, which recently put on SEXapalooza '09. It was addressed whether or not there were any abstinent individuals on the committee that put the week on, and yes … I am one of them. It was my goal to contribute during the meetings as the person heading the "Making Love without Doing It" event, which was presented Monday, March 2, 2009 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Being an assistant in this department for close to four years now, there became a time where I thought that sexual health events needed to better reflect abstinence, rather than just mentioning it amongst all the other methods. That time came about a year ago when my life drastically changed in the best possible way it could have. It was at that time that I knew I would never be satisfied with just having abstinence mentioned. I felt that it needed to be discussed, recognized and completely considered as a realistic sexual health method. Thus "SexLESS in the City" was created.
As another event put on by the Health Promotion Department, I had creative freedom to create and implement what I thought I would successfully say to the campus, that abstinence can be used. The event was laid back and included a student panel willing to share their experiences with abstinence, and the turnout was amazing. I had never imagined that the welcome for the event would be so warm, and it strengthened my conviction that events like these should always be available on campus. The support from the Health Promotion Department has been amazing and has shown me that they realize the importance of abstinence. I have also been responsible for creating the "Abstinence Defined by Me" portion within the Safer Sex party, which ironically enough, I worked to create too, right before life as I knew it would change forever. My values changed as part of that.
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eightball
Bulletproof Jackets
posted 3/12/09 @ 3:46 PM PST
Hey thats a great article and I am really proud of you. Sounds like you have made some very big decisions and changes in your life. I was abstinent up until i was married and that was the best thing i have ever done. (Continued…)
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