Debi Ostrom: Did you see the survey that came out saying one in four girls ages 14 to 19 had a sexually transmitted disease?
Shauna Weigand, exercise science senior: Negative.
Ostrom: What do you think about that fact?
Weigand: Well, I am from a small college town in California and we had something come out about that, too. And you could practically go to the bars and breathe in STDs. I think the problem with Texas – I get really fired up about this – they don’t have a proper sex education program. This abstinence stuff doesn’t work. In California we had programs educating students.
Ostrom: At the time you were in California, were you older than 19?
Weigand: Yes.
Ostrom: The survey was for 14- to 19-year-olds. Do you think it would apply to UH?
Weigand: I don’t think UH has the access to programs.
Ostrom: What do you think about the HPV vaccine?
Weigand: I haven’t gotten it, yet. It’s on the to-do list.
Ostrom: If you have UH health insurance, it covers the HPV vaccine.
Weigand: Oh, I didn’t know that. But how many actually have the UH insurance? I don’t think they do enough advertising. I don’t think many people know enough about HPV: how you get it, how you know if you have it, what to do if you have it. A lot of people aren’t aware the specific way to maintain sexual health.
Ostrom: What do you think about the fact that all these things focus on the women? The survey was all about the 14- to 19-year-old women. There was nothing about how many 14- to 19-year-old guys.
Weigand: From a science standpoint, women are affected more. It’s culturally biased. I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t they do 14- to 19-year-old?
Ostrom: Do you think it’s more biased in Texas than it is in California?
Weigand: Oh yeah. We have resource clinics. There were at least three where I was from. It’s discreet, nobody knows about it, you go in and do your business. Here you have to talk to the nurse, then the nurse talks to three other nurses. Then you realize you walked in on AIDS Day. Then, you have to sit with the three other AIDS screening candidates.
