Stanford Sexual Health Peer Resource Center

Great news! The SHPRC has been selected to receive the 2008 Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for student groups. The award website says this about the award:

The Dean’s Achievement Award recognizes an outstanding level of achievement by a student group that has enriched the quality of student life on campus. The recipients of the award exhibit excellence and innovation in the implementation of programs or projects; benefit the campus community; and demonstrate a unique quality.

In our case, the innovation was the subsidized pregnancy tests we began offering this year. We’re honored that the committee found this new program to fit the criteria of the award.

At the SHPRC, we’re all pretty excited. Anjali, the co-director this year, wrote to the counselors:

Thanks so much to all of you for everything that you all do for the SHPRC—you are all amazing, and we are able to thrive and reach so many students only because of the dedication and creativity of all of our counselors and volunteers.

Yeah SHPRC! This is fantastic news, and we hope this recognition will help more students come and take advantage of the pregnancy test program and all our other resources!

Here are the sexual health related articles compiled for the February SHPRC e-Newsletter. If you haven’t seen it and want to be on the list, email sev@stanford to find out more.

With the Pill, Years of Cancer Protection - NYTimes.com
British researchers found that women taking the pill for 15 years halved their chances of developing ovarian cancer and that the risk remained low more than 30 years later.

Stronger Warning for Birth Control Patch - WebMD.com
The FDA today strengthened its warning on the risk of serious blood clots in women using the Ortho Evra birth control skin patch. The warning about venous thromboembolism — clots in veins that may be life-threatening if they travel to the lungs and cause pulmonary embolism — isn’t new. It’s been on the Ortho Evra patch label since September 2006.

35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade - OurBodiesOurBlog.org
Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS), also known as the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (BWHBC), is a nonprofit, public interest women’s health education, advocacy, and consulting organization. This is their round-up of links on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Sex and the Teenage Girl - NYTimes.com Op-Ed
THE movie “Juno” is a fairy tale about a pregnant teenager who decides to have her baby, place it for adoption and then get on with her life. For the most part, the tone of the movie is comedic and jolly, but there is a moment when Juno tells her father about her condition, and he shakes his head in disappointment and says, “I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when.”

Add some flare to your sexual experience… colors and scents come in orange, banana, strawberry, and mint scents, and colors that match. Try these condoms to avoid the latex scent often associated with condoms. Great for oral sex. Come in and get some today!

The SHPRC has new books this month in its super-fun library. Check out one of these exciting titles TODAY!

• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amazing Sex - The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amazing Sex, Third Edition, has all the sex information and erotic tips you’ll need to keep your sex life exciting for yeras to come.
• Tickle His Pickle - Your Hands-on Guide to Penis Pleasing
• The Go Ask Alice Book of Answers - In a unique, straightforward style Go Ask Alice! delivers hard to find answers to your sometimes hard to ask questions about sex, STDs, relationships, nutrition, fitness, depression, drugs, eating disorders and many other personal health concerns
• Erotic Massage: The Tantric Touch of Love - With more than one hundred detailed drawings, Erotic Massage provices easy to learn strokes and methods that allow anyone to enjoy Tantric lovemaking.
• Supersex - A candid, funny, and wickedly irreverent treat, which is NOT for the faint-hearted. Packed with practical and realistic advice.

Here are the sexual health related articles compiled for the January SHPRC e-Newsletter. If you haven’t seen it and want to be on the list, email sev@stanford to find out more.

Ready or Not? The Sex Readiness Checklist - Scarleteen.com
If you’re considering having any kind of sex — manual sex, oral sex, vaginal sex, anal sex — for the first time or for every time thereafter, there are a lot of things you and your partner need to know and evaluate, especially if you’re coming into it thinking a given sort of sex is the culmination or finale of your sexuality, and especially with activities like heterosexual intercourse, where pregnancy is an additional risk. The best sex is always the sex everyone involved really wants and is really ready for. So take stock, see where you stand and get real!

HIV Rises Among Gay Men - NYTimes.com
AIDS appears to be making an alarming comeback. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that the incidence of H.I.V. infection among gay men is shooting up, following an encouraging period of decline. The rise of infections among younger gay men, especially black and Hispanic men, is troubling, and the study carries the clear implication that people at high risk of contracting the disease are becoming less cautious.

FDA to add HIV warning to contraceptive products - Yahoo! News
U.S. regulators on Tuesday finalized a rule requiring makers of certain contraceptive gels, foams, films and inserts to carry a warning that the products do not protect against sexual transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

Sex ed prompts teens to lose virginity later - MSNBC.com
Sex education in school may encourage teenagers to put off having sexual intercourse, the results of a U.S. government study suggests.

Men who smoke prone to impotence - Yahoo! News
If heart disease, stroke and certain cancers haven’t been reason enough for men to quit smoking, consider this: The habit also increases the risk of erectile dysfunction.

Durex Avanti condoms are made from revolutionary non-latex polyurethane film. Ideal for those with latex allergies, polyurethane condoms can also be used with oil-based lubricants, unlike latex condoms. Durex Avanti condoms are transparent and lubricated. Come in to the SHPRC and ask about them today!

In this issue:

• What’s Up This Month in the SHPRC?
• Interesting Articles
• SHPRC Featured Product: Durex Performax condoms
• Information for RAs and PHEs

What’s Up This Month in the SHPRC?

Open for Dead Week
The SHPRC will be open during all of Dead Week, but will be closed during finals. This week’s your last chance to stock up before break starts!

Hours of Operation
The SHPRC is open Monday through Friday, from 12-6pm. We are located on the second floor of Vaden Health Center. If you have a question you’d rather call in, our phone number is (650) SAFE-SEX. The SHPRC is an LGBT-friendly space, and counseling is 100% confidential.

Interesting Articles

• Big Rise in Cost of Birth Control on Campuses - NYTimes.com: In health centers at hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, young women are paying sharply higher prices for prescription contraceptives because of a change in federal law.
• IU survey points to need for better condom information - Indiana.edu: Condom use errors, such as putting the condom on incorrectly or wearing one only part of the time, were frequently reported during a recent survey.
• Chlamydia cases hit a record, CDC says - Boston.com: More than 1 million cases of chlamydia were reported in the United States last year, the most ever reported for a sexually transmitted disease, federal health officials said yesterday.
• Rapid test offers new weapon against chlamydia - MSNBC.com: A new rapid test for chlamydia, the world’s most common sexually transmitted infection, has proved successful in trials and could help rein in a worrying rise in the disease, British scientists said on Friday.
• Views on Sex Ed Divide Democratic, GOP Candidates - WomensENews.org: The U.S. has spent about $1 billion on abstinence-only education in the last decade and the White House seeks $28 million more. Here’s how presidential candidates line up on the issue.




SHPRC Featured Product: Durex Performax condoms

These condoms contain a body-heat-activated climax control lubricant on the inside, and a silky-smooth lubricant on the outside. A great option for those wishing to last longer in bed. They have a fitted shape for easy application, and also have a great feel. Each condom is electronically tested for reliability.



Information for RAs and PHEs

Schedule an Outreach!
Looking to spice up the dorm life? Invite the SHPRC to do a fun and informative sexual health outreach in your dorm! Outreaches can include games, competitions, or Q&A sessions. Contact the Dorm Outreach Coordinator, Sev Guardado .

Visit the SHPRC!
Are your residents a little awkward about going to the Center alone? Set aside a day to visit the SHPRC with your dorm and make an event of it! Our sexual health counselors would be glad to give a tour of all we have to offer, and of course help you redeem your $2 of FREE supplies.

Want pamphlets and hand-outs?
The SHPRC has a wealth of informational pamphlets and hand-outs that you can pass out in the dorm. Come in to the Center and pick out what would be most useful for your residents!

By MONICA DAVEY
New York Times

Published: November 23, 2007

In health centers at hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, young women are paying sharply higher prices for prescription contraceptives because of a change in federal law.The increases have meant that some students using popular birth control pills and other products are paying three and four times as much as they did several months ago. The higher prices have also affected about 400 community health centers nationwide used by poor women.

The change is due to a provision in a federal law that ended a practice by which drug manufacturers provided prescription contraception to the health centers at deeply discounted rates. The centers then passed along the savings to students and others.

Some Democratic lawmakers in Washington are pressing for new legislation by year’s end that would reverse the provision, which they say was inadvertently included in a law intended to reduce Medicaid abuse. In the meantime, health care and reproductive rights advocates are warning that some young women are no longer receiving the contraception they did in the past.

Some college clinics have reported sudden drops in the numbers of contraceptives sold; students have reported switching to less expensive contraceptives or considering alternatives like the so-called morning-after pill; and some clinics, including one at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Me., have stopped stocking some prescription contraceptives, saying they are too expensive.

“The potential is that women will stop taking it, and whether or not you can pay for it, that doesn’t mean that you’ll stop having sex,” said Katie Ryan, a senior at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, who said that the monthly cost of her Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo, a popular birth control pill, recently jumped to nearly $50 from $12.

Ms. Ryan, 22, said she had considered switching to another contraceptive to save money, but was unsure which one to pick. She has ended up paying the higher price, but said she was concerned about her budget.

“I do less because of this — less shopping, less going out to eat,” said Ms. Ryan, who has helped organize efforts to educate others on campus about the price jump. “For students, this is very, very expensive.”

Not everyone is troubled by the price increases. Some people said they wondered why college students, many of whom manage to afford daily doses of coffee from Starbucks and downloads from iTunes, should have been given such discounted birth control to begin with, and why drug companies should be granted such a captive audience of students. Others said low-priced, easy-to-attain contraception might encourage a false sense of security about sex.

“From our perspective, this does bring to light a public health concern, but for a different reason,” said Kimberly Martinez, the executive director of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, which advocates abstinence from sex until marriage. “These young women are relying on this contraception to protect them. But contraception isn’t 100 percent — for pregnancy or for disease.”

Read more…

By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR.
New York Times

Published: November 13, 2007

Only about 12 million female condoms are delivered each year in poor countries, compared with about 6 billion male condoms. Couples complained that the female version was awkward, unsightly, noisy and slippery — or, as Mitchell Warren, who was one of its earliest champions, now says, ”the yuck factor was a problem.” Many women tried it, but in the end, it was adopted mainly by prostitutes.

Now scientists are trying again. A new design — much the same at one end, different at the other — has been developed, and its makers hope it will succeed where its predecessor failed.

”Over 15 years, there’s been no real competition, no second-generation product,” said Michael J. Free, head of technology at PATH, a nonprofit group based in Seattle that did the redesign. ”There’s no lack of interest, but we’ve been stalled.”

However, the new design does not overcome the glaring drawback that doomed the first to be a niche product: it cannot be used secretly. For that reason, married women, now one of the highest risk groups for AIDS in poor countries, rarely use it.

”I don’t want my husband to know that I am wearing a condom,” said Lois B. Chingandu, the director of SAfaids, an anti-AIDS organization in Zimbabwe.

”Condoms are almost undiscussable within a marriage” in Africa, she added. ”It is something associated with casual sex. If a wife uses a condom, the message is that you have been unfaithful. If she even initiates the discussion, it tips the power scale. Men resist quite a lot, and it can result in violence.”

But for couples who have agreed on condoms, and for sex workers whose clients cooperate, the new design has several advantages.

The redesigned female condom is made of softer, thinner polyurethane to better transmit warmth. It is easier to insert; one end is bunched up as small as a tampon, an improvement on the old design, which resembled the stiff rubber ring of a diaphragm and had to be folded into a figure 8 for insertion.

During sex, the new female condom also moves more like a vagina than the old design did, according to couples in Seattle, Thailand, Mexico and South Africa who tested a series of prototypes, said Joanie Robertson, project manager for the condom at PATH. The old design hung passively from the rubber ring, which could shift around and sometimes hurt; the new design has dots of adhesive foam that adhere to the vaginal walls, expanding with them during arousal.

According to PATH, more than 90 percent of the couples were satisfied with the ease of use and comfort of the new condom, and 98 percent found the sensation of sex to be ”O.K. to very satisfactory.”

Nonetheless, progress is now stalled.

Read more…

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

In late September, the Stanford Daily published an article concerning a survey on college sexual health resources commissioned by Trojan Condoms. The article noted that Stanford had dropped 37 places since the survey was conducted last year, and discussed how this new rating reflected on the SHPRC. As a three year SHPRC counselor, I thought it might be worth raising some questions about what this study tells us and what it does not about the quality of our sexual health services at Stanford.

First of all, Trojan should be commended for acting to keep colleges accountable for the quality of their sexual health. However, there are some logical inconsistencies with the assessment of the survey results. Bert Sperling, of the research firm that conducted the finding, said, “The top-ranking schools made significant improvements to their programming—due in part, we hope, to last year’s study results—and they deserve to be commended.” However, the great discrepancies in scores led the researchers to note that, “The 2007 Sexual Health Report Card examined 139 schools, nearly 50 percent more than last year, and judged several categories not taken into consideration last year, resulting in different rankings.” What is the constant here? If the sample size and criteria has changed, how much can movement in the rankings really say about the school’s sexual health services?

In the Daily article, one of the postulates for why our ranking would have dropped in comparison to other schools was the fact that we do not offer condoms for free. This decision—whether or not to give or sell health services—is actually the subject of some debate. Two reasons that come to mind for charging for condoms are 1) People are more likely to value something they have invested in and put it to use 2) The subsidy system is more sustainable. In other words, if we relied on University funds to pay for our supplies, there is the possibility that shifts in allocation could put the whole program in jeopardy. Through the subsidy system, the SHPRC has functioned for some 20 years as a self-sufficient, self-sustaining group. Trojan “graded” schools on topics like this, assigning certain decisions an arbitrary value, which does not do justice to the careful consideration and situational pressures that go into the decision making process.

It is also worth noting that the Trojan corporation has its own agenda for conducting this kind of study. The press release for the study made this very clear, noting that Trojan is “America’s #1” in the condom industry, and inserting a plug for their new marketing campaign that was released in conjunction with the study results. (On a side note, the SHPRC does not carry Trojan condoms because of the fact that many of them use nonoxyl-9, an ingredient in spermicide which has been shown to increase the chance of transmission of certain STIs for women.)

Although I was unable to find the actual data that explained how the SHPRC ranked, I can think of a number of reasons why the study could have underrepresented what we do. First, many of our educational outreach programs (with freshmen dorms, high school groups, etc) are handled between the requesting party and us, meaning that perusing the website would not have given a full sense of the amount of educating we do. Second, although the SHPRC offers peer counseling, a selection of books, condoms, lube and massage oil (and now pregnancy tests!), we also work in coordination with HIV*PACT, YWCA, the Center for Relationship Abuse, Vaden STI testing, Health Promotion Services, the PHEs, etc. Our presence in the Stanford community is thus much greater than our little office (or a perusal of our website) may suggest.

I am not trying to suggest, of course, that there is not room for improvement of the SHPRC. In the past few months we’ve completely redone our website, streamlined the library loan system, increased our hours of operation to Monday-Friday, noon-6pm (30 hours a week, up from 25 in previous years), started doing trainings on breast and testicular cancer self-exams, and begun to offer pregnancy tests. We are continuously working to improve our services, and we’re always open to suggestions.

Selena can be found most days shuffling through the SHPRC’s candy bowl for snickers, but if you’d rather not hunt her down, you can email her at selenasd@stanford.edu