College is commonly known as a time for random hookups, drunken sex, and sexual exploration. To sum it up: life happens. For many of us, the end of August marks the time of new beginnings, the entrance into the world of higher learning, critical thinking, and independence. It is a whole new world of unexplored freedom, paired with 18-year old hormones and testosterone that can result in incredibly bad life decisions.
If you are someone who is in a committed relationship throughout college, you go! More power to you! But for those of us who are entering college as single people, be warned, you might end up in some humiliating sex-related situations.
In college, a random hookup is bound to happen. But what happens if, OH NO, neither one of you has a condom? In a state of horniness, sex can occur. No worries, it happens to the best of us. We are learning to control our thoughts through critical analysis and challenging coursework in our classes, releasing a little pent-up academic frustration through sex is normal.
Sex is a natural part of human development for many young people in the United States. A study from UPI reports that 33 percent of 16-year-olds, 50 percent of 17-year-olds, 61 percent of 18-year-olds and 71 percent of 19-year-olds report having sex.
As a mostly grown woman, I am able to have conversations with my friends about "shunned" topics that were the talk of the school during my high school years. I remember trying to have these conversations in high school, and I am both ashamed and relieved about the result. Despite going to high school in Washington D.C., one of the most open areas in the country when it comes to talking about controversial topics, the mere mention of girls having sex as teenagers brought a shiver to most people's spine.
The social stigma surrounding female sexuality is pervasive and impacts girls and women of all ages. Instead of being able to sexually express our desires, we are forced to be sexualized by society. It is crucial that young adults have access to comprehensive information about sex, protection, and emergency contraception.
When you think of Plan B, the image that comes to most people's minds is a woman doing the walk of shame into a store after an unprotected hookup with a random guy. I have at times, but, there is no shame in wanting to protect yourself after having been unprotected in the heat of the moment.
I have taken Plan B more than once. Taking Plan B in no way, shape, or form says anything about who you are as a person. Having taken Plan B, I can say without a doubt that my friends' opinion of me has not been changed as a result. Accidents do happen. I have used a condom, not expired, and had it break in the middle of sex. Yet, neither one of us noticed until we were done. Does that mean I was trying to get pregnant? NO, it does not.
The next day, I drove to the nearest CVS Pharmacy to pick up Plan B. For the approximately three women in the world who don't know what Plan B is: Plan B One-Step is an emergency contraceptive pill that helps prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or the failure of other birth control methods. The tablet contrails levonorgestrel, a hormone that has been used in many birth control pills for several decades to help prevent pregnancy. Emergency contraception stops the release of an egg from the ovary and works to prevent fertilization of an egg and preventing attachment to the uterus.
Otherwise...
Plan B is a pill used for women who, like me, found themselves in an unfortunate sex-related situation. Yes, for those of us who will be a college freshman in the fall, your mother will go crazy thinking of you as a sex-crazed 18-year-old without her overwhelming supervision, but you are starting college and beginning to be independent.
Be sure you keep a healthy supply of condoms, with lubricant, for you and your friends to use. There is no harm in being prepared. Remember to replace them when they are getting close to their expiration date; no one wants to have a condom break in the middle of sex only to find out it expired in 2016.
And, if anything happens that you were not expecting, YOU CAN TAKE PLAN B!