With such praise from the University, it follows that, for the sake of the health of its students, the administration would try to combat this pluralistic ignorance, or at the very least avoid contributing to it. Sadly, a recent ad campaign sponsored by the Sexual Health Advisers (SHAs) does just the opposite.
Former SHA president Anna Bialek '09 commented in an e-mail to me that the goal of the SHAs "is to provide students with accurate information to help them make whatever sexual decision they choose to make in the healthiest way possible."
That's a praiseworthy goal. Yet consistently, despite the SHAs' insistence that their program is designed to safeguard students' health and that they serve the needs of sexually traditional students and sexually progressive students alike, the group's actions expose a grave misunderstanding of what would actually accomplish such noble and necessary ends.
For Valentine's Day, the SHAs circulated a poster by e-mail. On top of a large red heart was the witty verse "This Valentine's Day / whatever you do / make the choice / that's right for you." Placed below was the phrase, "If you need a condom, pick one up at UHS or from your friendly neighborhood SHA."
This cheery rhyme displays the progressive sexual morality that is at the core of the SHA's message. Students are instructed to make the choices that are "right" for them. In this clearly libertarian suggestion, there is no room for the health or safety of sexually active students. The poster does not say "make the choice that's ‘safe' for you" or " ‘healthy' for you" (though the former would clearly fit within the meter of the poem). It presents a terribly misleading portrait of sexual life: one without risks, repercussions or responsibility.
The main point of the poster was to advertise the availability of free condoms from "your friendly neighborhood SHA." In so doing, some might object, the poster campaign takes students' health and safety fully into account. I acknowledge that engaging in sexual activity while using a condom is generally less risky than engaging in sexually activity without using a condom. So what's the problem? Touting condoms as an all-powerful device that makes "whatever you do" a safe sexual decision is dangerously misleading.
According to McCosh Health Center, genital herpes and genital warts (caused by human papillomavirus) are the most commonly treated sexually transmitted infections (STIs) on campus. Both can be transmitted during oral sex. And condoms are relatively ineffective against HPV and genital herpes.
The ad doesn't express this risk - or any health risk, for that matter. Instead, it reminds students of the availability of condoms, which don't fully protect against the two most commonly transmitted STIs on campus. The campaign trades legitimate health concerns
- the purported purpose of the SHA program - for an unnecessary espousal of a libertarian morality.
And so, in the form of a cute rhyme, the SHAs flagrantly contribute to the pluralistic ignorance Baumann describes in her award-winning thesis, suggesting what the average Princeton student will be doing on a day of romance.
It is disappointing that the SHAs have conflated the transcendent joy of romantic love with "hooking up" on Valentine's Day and in so doing have put the health of their peers in jeopardy. The Anscombe Society believes that "chastity honors sex and allows it to flourish to its full capacity." Further, preserving sex for the marriage relationship allows someone to give unconditionally to their partner, to be loved and to love in return, without the fear imposed by causality or differing levels of commitment. The health concerns omitted by this poster vanish when one practices fidelity to one's future spouse by remaining chaste until marriage. For more information, see Anscombe's Valentine's Day ad, which can be found on its website (princeton.edu/~anscombe).
The SHAs' unique position mandates that they consider these concerns. It violates this mandate to display only a libertarian sexual ideology on a day dedicated to romanticism, which reinforces the pluralistic ignorance that pressures our peers into unhealthy sexual decisions.
Emma Yates is a member of the Anscombe Society's public relations committee. She can be reached at evyates@princeton.edu.
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