Attitude affects sexual behaviors

Risky behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections involve more than just not wearing protection during sex, about a dozen people learned during "Get Safe for Everyone," a safer sex program presented by Kathryn Brown, educator with Health and Wellness Education, and Mark Price, test counselor with Positive Link and IDS HIV Live columnist.\nIt includes such factors as how one feels about his or her body, and behaviors such as partying on weekends or exercising on and off.\nTo illustrate, Price gave a sample quiz based on information he gathered as an HIV test counselor. His job involved talking to many people, mostly students, who fear they may have contracted HIV.\nThe quiz scored people on their attitudes about their ability "to protect yourself doing something you'd rather not protect yourself during," Price said.\nThe reason for the quiz was that "when you talk about safer sex, what you're talking about is risk," Price said. Risk doesn't just happen at the moment people engage in sexual acts, he said. "Risk is pervasive throughout your life. Risk is part of attitude, and attitude is part of action."\nFor example, people who are frustrated about their weight may have issues with their body image, and may say yes to sex if they are afraid someone will reject them because they perceive their body to be unattractive. \nPeople who do things off and on, such as exercise sporadically, do many things sporadically, he said. \n"People who decide to exercise in January are also who decide at a certain point that they no longer have to have protected sex, even if they have many partners," he said. \nIt's a behavior pattern that makes wearing protection such as a condom during vaginal, anal or oral intercourse, or using a piece of latex called a dental dam or a piece of plastic wrap over the vagina, conditional. That person may decide once he or she started having sex with someone it's no use trying to protect oneself anymore, Price said.\nSexually transmitted infections include more than HIV, Brown said. Herpes is the most common STI contracted, particulary through oral sex, which many people do not think of as penetration, Brown said. Genital warts, or HPV, gonorrhea and chlamydia are other STIs that can be transmitted, according to information from Health and Wellness Education at the Health Center. \nBrown said even though much is known about AIDS and HIV, students still need to be aware they risk getting other STIs. \nThough one has a greater chance of getting an STI through anal and vaginal intercourse, it's possible that a person may have an abrasion in their mouth from brushing their teeth, and will get it through oral sex, Price said.\nCondoms, both latex and polyurethane, were given to those attending, and as well as water-based lubricants, which do not cause latex to tear, as oil-based lubricants such as petroleum jelly do. Also available was literature from Health and Wellness Education showing how to use a condom. One brochure suggested that people wait to have sex if they feel uncomfortable discussing it. \n"If you can't talk about sex, you're not ready for it," it stated.\nThe literature and Price both said many people do not like using condoms because they spoil the moment. Price suggested that men practice putting on a condom when they masturbate to learn not just how to put it on, but how to keep sex exciting while protecting themselves and their partner. The literature also advised making safe sex a part of foreplay. Both Brown and Price said masturbation, both alone or mutual, is a healthy form of safer sex.\nThe threat of STIs do not have to take away the excitement of sex, people who attended the program found. \n"I really gained new insights," said senior Bill Powers. "There were so many things I wasn't aware of."\nKelly McBride, a community specialist for Planned Parenthood, 421 S. College, said she attended because she is also a safer sex educator and is interested in learning different techniques to teach the public. \n"I like Mark's method of risk reduction, and looking at risk factors other than whether you wear a condom or not," she said.