Safer Sex Fest

On March 10th, 2010, UIC will be hosting its very own Safer Sex Fest in honor of National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day. It's common knowledge that college is a time for discovering who you are, choosing a career, meeting people with different perspectives, making lifelong friendships, and (maybe for some) experimentation with drugs and sex. Yes, college is an amazing time to figure out exactly who you are. That is also the reason why HIV/AIDS awareness comes into play. It's been estimated that 1 out of every 500 college students in the U.S. contract HIV. When considering that UIC alone has more than 25,000 students, those odds tend to jump out at you and make you think back to that one time…

With the help of the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women's Health, who is providing the funds to hold such an event, the Center for Research on Women and Gender and the UIC Wellness Center will be sponsoring UIC's Safer Sex Fest on March 10th from 4-6pm in Student Center East room 302. Organizations such as Omega Delta Fraternity, Lambda Alpha Theta Sorority, UIC Counseling Center, Gender and Sexuality Center, and the Public Health Student Association will also be volunteering their time and efforts to bring awareness on safer sex practices and expose some myths about sex. On his perspective of why volunteering at such an event was important, Jonathon Zaragoza, a UIC student and member of Omega Delta National Fraternity stated, "We value safe sex and want to bring awareness to the issue, not only to the Greek community, but UIC overall."

Maybe once college students have a better understanding on why safe sex practices such as condom use are extremely important, the numbers of HIV/AIDS contraction will begin to fall. So, don't become a statistic, and in the famous words of an anonymous source, "What you don't know will always hurt you."

The event is open to anybody who wants to be educated on HIV prevention and how to practice safe sex in a fun, relaxed environment free from judgment. Don't forget to thank Jessica Bushar, a graduate student at UIC in the school of public health and graduate assistant with the Center for Research on Women and Gender for collaborating with other organizations on getting the word out to UIC as well. It's a guaranteed good time, and for two hours, you can ask the most ridiculous questions about sex you never had the guts to ask before and receive a legitimate response. The Safer Sex Fest will have games and activities that include Sex Jeopardy, Condom Relay Race, Blow It Up, Condom Card Line Up, and Pin the Protection. Let your imagination run wild as to what exactly these games consist of… or just show up and find out for yourself.