In recent weeks, TSL has published opinion pieces bemoaning a lack of condom use by Generation Z and advocating for Gen Z to bring back blood oaths. While it’s clear that the author of these pieces is genuinely concerned for the well-being of our generation, both pieces had serious problems, lacking reliable sources and often glossing over sexual health issues of serious importance. As a student who has spent more than five years advising and participating in sexual health research, I want to take the opportunity to share some information about sexual wellbeing — condoms, blood play and everything in between.
It’s true, as the article on condom use notes, that in recent years more than half of reported cases of the STIs, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in the United States have been among youth aged 15-24. But even for this statistic, like almost all other factual claims in the article, the author fails to provide reliable evidence — instead citing other opinion pieces and even unedited blogs.
The peer-reviewed medical sources that are cited don’t actually support the author’s claims about AIDS, contraception or condoms. The article doesn’t even cite a source to back up its central claim that young people are using condoms less frequently! Evidence is out there, including a widely reported 2022 World Health Organization survey of youth in Europe, central Asia and Canada.
Sexual health is so important, and it’s too often treated with inaccurate sensationalism and irresponsible punditry. Sex sells, sure — but we deserve a serious, caring approach to sexual health. TSL’s writers and editors should do better. Rather than playing fast and loose with the evidence to make dubious arguments, we need to equip ourselves and our peers with all of the tools for sexual wellbeing and the education necessary to manage risk in choosing how and when to use them. If we’re able to do this, our sexual health and pleasure will both be better as a result. Maybe our blood oaths will, too.
So let’s look at the research. The reality is that blaming this sexual health crisis on Gen Z not using condoms enough ignores much of the picture. Health care services are inequitably distributed and often difficult to access. Laws governing young people’s access to testing, treatment and prevention services for HIV and STIs are inconsistent and changing — falling under attack by opponents of gender-affirming care. And sex education is in bad shape and actively being undermined, with the national advocacy organization SIECUS awarding only five U.S. states an “A” grade for their sex education policies.
It is absolutely still worth reminding college students to use condoms as a way to directly protect ourselves and our lovers. But condom use is a means to an end, not a goal in itself. The goal is sexual health. That means minimizing the transmission of HIV and STIs while maximizing testing and treatment. It means reducing unwanted pregnancy, and maximizing access to reproductive healthcare. And it means all kinds of other things — inclusive and comprehensive education about sex and healthy relationships, realistic and honest media about sex, gender-affirming care, etc. Condoms are one tool among many.
What are some other tools to make sex as safe and pleasurable as possible? Getting tested regularly for HIV and STIs and sharing recent test results with past and future sexual partners is critically important — free or inexpensive testing is available through Student Health Services (SHS) and at Planned Parenthood in Glendora, accessible by bus.
Medications like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) — taken regularly or before sex — and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) — taken after sex — can drastically reduce the risk of HIV infection. DoxyPEP, a dose of antibiotics taken after sex, can do the same for STI infection in emergencies. All three options are available through SHS, Planned Parenthood and the online platform Freddie. Birth control pills and emergency contraception or “Plan B” are available through SHS, and medication abortion or “Plan C” is available through Planned Parenthood and online platform Aid Access. Alongside condoms, other physical barriers like dental dams and gloves can help prevent STIs by blocking fluid transmission and skin contact in people with all types of bodies and genitalia. All of these are available for free at Health Education Outreach and many other locations across the Claremont Colleges.
Where a condom-focused approach might discourage these other tools in the name of encouraging condom use over all else, history shows us a better way. When the HIV/AIDS epidemic devastated the LGBTQIA+ community in the 1980s, community groups advocated for condom use alongside other methods of making sex safer — at the time, this mostly meant having sex in ways that avoided fluid transmission. Today we have more tools than ever, and we can follow the example of this lifesaving work by using the whole range of them in our pursuit of safer and more pleasurable sex.
Speaking of bodily fluids, let’s address the blood thing. It is hypocritical to say that condoms are the best and only way to be safe from HIV and STIs, then turn around the next week and argue for the ritual exchange of blood. But just like condomless sex, exchange of blood does happen, whether accidentally or for ritual or sexual purposes. Aspiring bloodplayers — just like everyone else — should seek testing for STIs and other bloodborne diseases as necessary. And just like everyone else, they should focus on communication, consent and risk management in their practices.
When we achieve our goals of sexual health and wellbeing, we won’t know it because of a statistic telling us how many people are wearing condoms. We’ll know it from the dropping rates of HIV infections, STIs and unwanted pregnancies. We’ll know it because our sex and our relationships will be safer, happier and more pleasurable.
Ezra Levinson PZ ’27 takes daily PrEP and gets tested regularly for HIV and STIs. She isn’t going to tell TSL what she has or hasn’t done with blood.
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