The Student Health Education Centre at McMaster is one of many groups on campus attempting to destigmatize reaching out for sexual health resources
Sexual health was defined by the World Health Organization as overall well-being correlated with sexuality, ensuring a person feels that their needs are maintained. Furthermore, they indicated that sexual health isn’t simply limited to medical well-being, it includes the ability to be able to access the resources necessary to maintain these.
A paper by a group of researchers in Halifax found that some undergraduate students in Nova Scotia felt as though resources were scarce which discouraged them from seeking out.
The Student Health Education Centre at McMaster University, located in McMaster Union Student Centre, works to connect students with health resources on campus. Sheridan Fong, service director of SHEC, shared that their service offers a variety of free resources for students.
“We offer confidential peer support, as well as health resources on several subjects, such as sexual health. We also offer safer sex supplies, which is one of the main ways that we interact with students. We have our health dispensers that are free and located on the second floor of MUSC,” said Fong.
The health supplies they offer include but are not limited to, safe(r) sex supplies, pregnancy tests and menstrual products. The group has existed at McMaster for many years, known as the Birth Control Center in 1971. From that point in time they’ve expanded what they offer. Fong shares that the changes are meant to align with the inclusivity associated with sex.
“Over the years, we have expanded our product range. Just to become more inclusive of what sex means to different individuals, I would say. So we've gone from just giving out male condoms to also offering female condoms, as well as dental dams. Just understanding that the idea of sex can mean something very different for many people,” said Fong.
Stigma is something that is often associated with seeking out resources that may increase a person's sexual health. The stigmatization of this resource is something SHEC tries to actively overcome. This has caused them to introduce initiatives that pressure associated with seeking resources. This includes their dispenser on campus being open 24 hours seven days a week. Many of the other safe(r) sex options mentioned previously can be accessed Monday to Friday from 9:30 AM to 5:25 PM.
Fong shared that there is an understanding at SHEC that for some hesitantly seeking out their resources, anonymity can be beneficial. This sparked the implementation of an online ordering system. This resource allows students to check off the supplies they need in a form and pick them up discretely.
Though there is a stigma around sexual health, Fong hopes that some of their initiatives address the embarrassment or shame some feel around accessing these supplies.
Fong highlighted their Halloween event which handed out supplies similarly to Halloween candy. She believes that facilitating light and playful initiatives with sexual health resources can work to lessen stigma. Fong stated that SHEC plans to carry out a similar initiative for Valentine’s Day.
Funding for SHEC's initiative to add additional dispensers at the Mary E. Keyes service desk and Commons Building service desk was put to a vote in the Student Life Enhancement Fund. Fong commented on this, stating that one of the best ways to destigmatize services like SHEC is by actively funding their on-campus student outreach.
“Seeing like the Student Life Enhancement Fund, literally putting forth our project for a vote shows that they are supportive of this and this is like a university-wide support. I just think like backing projects like this with funding or like help elevating them to be put in like the student public eye really just shows their support,” said Fong.
Having resources provided to students on campus can encourage utilizing the resources around them. Acknowledging and uplifting resources in the McMaster community, such as SHEC, are important in the goal of destigmatizing sexual health.
Comprehensive sexual education provided by universities can help students navigate their developing identities, relationships and choices
I know how to find the hypotenuse of a triangle. I can name each of the planets in our solar system. I can even list several literary devices. But if you ask me what I learned about sexual health over the span of the five years it’s taught in the public school curriculum, I could tell you nothing. Absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, the awkward giggles, bewildered expressions and uncomfortable atmosphere are all that’s cemented in my brain years later.
As young adults transitioning from high school to university, life on campus introduces opportunities to explore new relationships, new experiences and new choices.
However, as students begin to pursue sexual experiences, they’re forced to rely on sub-par sex-ed from high-school, conversations with friends or searches on the web – which aren’t always reliable.
Given the diversity of students at university, it’s important to recognize the various experiences and levels of exposure individuals have received to sexual education.
With the need for more comprehensive sex-ed, universities can help bridge the knowledge gap left by schools. They can create safe and accessible spaces that encourage learning about sexual health and well-being in unbiased and non-judgemental ways.
Depending on where students come from, sex and sexual health may be severely stigmatized. As a result, the formal sexual education curriculum may be minimal to non-existent, leaving many international students with a poor understanding of sexuality, reproductive health and rights.
Even for domestic students who receive curriculum-based sex-ed in Canada, the content is not culturally inclusive and fails to take a holistic approach.
All students, and especially Black, Indigenous and People of Colour students, would benefit from an anti-racist approach to sexual education that decolonizes, Indigenizes and dismantles systems of oppression. Such an approach to sex-ed offered in post-secondary settings would open opportunities for important dialogues that include the Black, Indigenous and other racialized experiences.
These communities have also been disproportionately affected by poor health outcomes, such as higher rates of sexual violence and sexually transmitted infections, due to various determinants including low socioeconomic status, inequitable access to healthcare and a lack of trust in the healthcare systems that have a history of racism, discrimination and structural violence. An anti-racist sex-ed framework could offer better support for these communities.
It is also critical to support the disconnect young adults with diverse identities experience when navigating their sexuality and health. For instance, the colonization and historical trauma experienced by the Indigenous community still deeply affect their ability to relate to the content taught in school curriculums. Likewise, 2SLGBTQ2IA+ students need access to better support and a sex-ed curriculum that remains inclusive of their experiences and provides evidence-based information to promote positive sexual health outcomes.
It is also critical that students with disabilities receive proper access to comprehensive sex-ed. Too often, individuals with disabilities are stripped of their dignity and autonomy and that needs to change. Applying health equity and justice frameworks to centre the experiences and voices of oppressed groups is key to ensuring all individuals are able to express their sexuality on their own terms.
Sex-ed matters. It gives students power over their identity, sexuality, health, relationships and more importantly, their future.
Everyone has the right to comprehensive sexual education and I believe that a comprehensive sexual education curriculum is an intersectional and equitable one. Comprehensive sexual education incorporates the narratives of BIPOC communities, rather than outdated and oppressive frameworks from the past. It also provides students with the opportunity to learn about topics beyond reproductive health such as healthy relationships, sexual violence prevention, body image, gender identity and sexual orientation.
With the need for more comprehensive sex-ed, universities can help bridge the knowledge gap left by schools. They can create safe and accessible spaces that encourage learning about sexual health and well-being in unbiased, nonjudgmental ways.
Depending on where students come from, sex and sexual health may be severely stigmatized. As a result, the formal sexual education curriculum may be minimal to non-existent, leaving many international students with a poor understanding of sexuality, reproductive health and rights.
And while the McMaster Students Union services like the Student Health Education Centre, Women & Gender Equity Network and the Pride Community Centre are already working towards disseminating this knowledge and providing resources for students, McMaster has a unique opportunity to do more.
By implementing comprehensive sex-ed during Welcome Week and orientation for incoming students and offering regular support through the Student Wellness Centre, McMaster can promote positive sexual health outcomes and leave their students feeling sexually-empowered with a greater recognition for their dignity and bodily autonomy.
Sex-ed is an ongoing process and shouldn’t stop in high school. As we continue to grow and discover ourselves, the relevancy of sex-ed increases and so does the need for universities to equip their students with accessible support and evidence-based resources.
By Mads Clement, Contributor
cw: mental health, suicide
In 2018, the Student Representative Assembly voted to rescind the Peer Support Line (PSL), an anonymous hotline that existed to support students and their mental health.
PSL offered students a place to chat with another student trained in peer support about difficulties that they were experiencing. These challenges could range from relationship issues to academic problems.
According to a former vice president (administration) of the McMaster Students Union, the main reason the PSL was rescinded was because it received too many “crisis calls”, which posed a liability to all parties involved. Given student staff were not trained in crisis management or how to address calls with students experiencing suicidal ideation, this is a reasonable concern.
However, closing a mental health-based service has had negative impacts on the student body. We have lost one more resource on our already very small list of mental health resources. Anonymous peer support is extremely valuable. These services can be accessed without the fear of your name being officially attached to your mental health issues and because peers can relate to you on levels that adult therapists often cannot. Having someone who can relate to you without worrying about whether you will be institutionalized is an important facet of mental health care.
For these reasons and many others, students were outraged by the closing of PSL. We took to Twitter and Facebook, asking for answers as to why such a valuable service would be rescinded. It’s hard to find mental health care on campus, and reducing our options makes it even harder.
I actually received a reply from a member of the SRA to my outraged tweets where they wrote; “actually, there are 4 new counsellors that have been added to increase 4,000 hours of counselling to decrease the waiting time that students face when accessing the Student Wellness Centre.”
There are three main reasons why this resolution is an issue.
Problem number one: as mentioned above, going to a therapist is not the ideal option for everyone, as some students are likely to have minimal shared experiences with therapists. This especially applies to marginalized folks; patients of colour are less likely to find a racialized therapist that understands the impacts of systemic racism on their mental health. 2SLGBTQ+ students face a similar struggle when dealing with cisgender, heterosexual therapists. The same can be said of various other marginalized identities.
The second problem is that four more therapists isn’t enough. Ask anyone who goes to therapy at the SWC about how long they wait for appointments. In the majority of cases, there’s a two week to one month gap in between appointments. This is not adequate. On top of that, the therapists and counsellors are so swamped with students that they rarely have time to dedicate care to their patients beyond a surface level interaction. Mental health problems often run a lot deeper than what therapists are able to deal with because of their volume of patients.
Since there are many students floundering for mental health care outside of the SWC and PSL, more pressure has been put on the MSU peer support services: Women and Gender Equity Network, the Pride Community Centre, Student Health Education Centre and Maccess. These services, like PSL, are run by students who have entry level peer support training and are not compensated for their work. They are not equipped to handle the volume of students coming to them for help, let alone the degree of mental distress some of their space users are in. These students are not trained therapists.
Additionally, the majority of students that volunteer for these services are marginalized, which leads to the issue of marginalized students taking on all the mental health work on campus. These students, because of the pressures in their own lives and the added pressures of dealing with the mental health crises of others that they can’t always handle, often develop their own mental health problems and also need support or therapy. This system is unbalanced and unsustainable.
We need a balance of both therapists and peer support services. Therapists can provide specialized care to those who need it, but they are at capacity at McMaster University right now. We need more therapists; specifically therapists who have experiences with marginalization. It’s super weird talking about institutionalized transphobia with a cisgender, heterosexual person. This needs to change.
In addition, the MSU peer support services need more funding and volunteers should be compensated for their work. They put hours of unpaid labour into an unforgiving system that does not support them.
McMaster needs to rework its mental health support systems, and it needs to do this as urgently as possible. Everyone suffers when mental health services are limited, not just mentally ill folks.
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By Kian Yousefi Kousha
All through summer, I was thinking about my transition to McMaster University. I thought about meeting people, finding friends, learning lessons and getting advice. Welcome Week painted all of my thoughts with a colour of reality. It started with hearing customized chants in the move-in day and it ended with jumping up and down at Majid Jordan’s concert.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnFRDdOhTS7/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Between the start and the end, there was lots of middle, which were filled with valuable lessons. With that said, Welcome Week would not be alive without its empathetic, energetic and earnest representatives who were the authors of those valuable lessons. For instance, most of them highlighted the significance of getting involved with the McMaster community. On the other hand, I was told that being a student should always be my first priority during my time at university. In addition, the sessions held by the Student Success Centre taught me that asking for help does not signify weakness. Moreover, it was mentioned that students ought to use all the resources available so that they can get the most out of their time at McMaster University.
To name a few, I was introduced to the Student Wellness Centre and the Student Health Education Centre, which their main purpose is to become an oasis for students during any physical or mental illnesses.
Some outdoor yoga for the last weeks of summer! 🧘♀️🧘♂️ https://t.co/ZvLzKYYBMd
— Student Wellness (@McMasterSWC) September 4, 2018
Equally important, I believe that Welcome Week was the most successful in helping students like me to feel less homesick. As an only child, I could never imagine that I would feel welcome in any other place except my own home. Nevertheless, Welcome Week taught me and all of its participants that home is not a place. It is a feeling that stems from love, friendship and respect. This happened through a myriad of icebreaker events such as Mac connector and Faculty Fusion, which created a sense of belonging between the first years as they felt a part of the 2022 family.
After all, classes have started and all first years have officially become a Marauder. The events of Welcome Week have most certainly prepared students for their first year and eased their transition from their high school or home country to McMaster University. Now it is the time for the students to utilize their learned lessons as a means to success so that we all can proudly say: one, we are from Mac, two, a little bit louder, three, I still can’t hear you, four more more more.
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By: Jackie McNeil
The McMaster Students Union Student Representative Assembly’s Standing Committee on University Affairs, in collaboration with the MSU Student Health Education Centre, conducted a survey on McMaster health services from Oct. 23, 2017 to Nov. 10.
A January 2018 report written on the health services review acknowledges that physical and mental health are important aspects of student life, and that the health services survey was a key method for student voices to be heard on these topics.
The survey sample was roughly 100 students. 83 per cent of respondents identified as female and only four per cent of the sample was first year students. The lack of participation from first years is explained as likely resulting from the survey being early on in their first semester, not giving them time to have visited the Student Wellness Centre.
The report does acknowledge a need for strategies to encourage participation in the future from those who identify as male given the majority were female respondents.
“The Student Wellness Centre does blood testing, but they don’t do it for non-urgent reasons… they can’t really offer all the services on campus because they have limited capacity.”
David Lee
MSU associate vice president
(University Affairs)
Starting with the availability of appointments, the survey itself looked at a variety of topics surrounding student health and the SWC. Although appointments were not difficult to get with wait times generally below one week, 36 per cent of respondents said they had tried to access the SWC at a time when it was closed.
The SWC is open from 8:45 a.m. until 7:45 p.m. most weekdays, except for Fridays when it closes at 4:30 p.m. It is closed all day on weekends, but the survey results suggest a need for operating hours on the weekend when students do not have classes.
Another important issue addressed by the survey is blood testing on campus, which was not offered at the time. If a student had needed blood testing done, then they would be referred to an off-campus location. According to the survey, 48 per cent of students referred did not complete the recommended blood test, often due to difficulties finding the location or accessing it without a car.
David Lee, MSU associate vice president (University Affairs), explained that this situation has begun to be rectified with the SWC now offering blood testing on campus.
“The Student Wellness Centre does blood testing, but they don’t do it for non-urgent reasons… they can’t really offer all the services on campus because they have limited capacity,” Lee stated.
This limited capacity means that referrals are still very necessary in order for students to access the healthcare they need. There is, however, the hope for a more detailed explanation of the referral system and locations in the future, especially for international students who may not be familiar with the area.
A large area of concern in the survey and report was the counselling offered by the SWC, with 54 per cent of respondents that had participated in counselling claiming dissatisfaction. The most common complaints pertained to wait times of sometimes months between appointments, especially during the stressful exam season, and a lack of sensitivity from staff.
These have been addressed with the hiring of five new counsellors specializing in addiction and trauma, and the potential for a new model to be implemented by SWC staff when approaching mental health and mental illness.
“It’s easy to think of the Student Wellness Centre as the main problem, but it’s really a bigger issue of the health care system in general,” Lee said.
Students who have visited the SWC are encouraged to fill out the brief survey on their website, so student ideas for improvement can be heard. Students can also look forward to the SWC’s future relocation to the coming Peter George Centre for Living and Learning.
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Sarah O’Connor
Staff Reporter
From Feb. 10 – 14 the Student Health Education Centre ran its first ever SHEC Week, a week dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles for university students. SHEC is offering a wide variety of events for students to participate in and learn something new.
“It’s just a great way to promote our services and do things we’ve never done before,” Kelsey O’Neill, SHEC Coordinator, commented on SHEC Week. “This is the first time it’s been done in our history of being SHEC.”
O’Neill reveals that SHEC Week was SHEC Training Chair executive Tina Cody’s idea. Cody said SHEC Week drew inspiration from the annual Pride Week and thanked Jyssika Russell and the QSCC for their inspiration and dedication.
She hopes that SHEC Week will also work to tackle different stigmas and perspectives on health by providing students with what they believe are most valuable to students.
“What I really wanted to do with SHEC week was… tackle a variety of problems that students face in their daily lives through informative and fun activities,” Cody explained.
“I really want SHEC Week to educate McMaster students with how they can lead a healthy lifestyle through easy and manageable steps.”
Laura Jamieson, Internal Programming executive and next year’s coordinator hopes that SHEC Week will help students learn the importance of health and happiness in their lives.
“I hope that SHEC Week is going to be an opportunity for people to think about and talk about certain things in their own health and their own happiness as students and how to really make that a priority in their lives,” she said.
O’Neill, Cody, and Jamieson all agree that SHEC Week is a great opportunity for SHEC to showcase and make sure students are aware of the many different services SHEC has to offer, as well as recognizing that the events being offered during SHEC Week are valuable to students.
“I know that I would have benefited from these events so much during points in my life throughout university,” Cody admits, not having been an active member of SHEC until more recently.
“I think that… first year when it’s so difficult transitioning… students can attend these events and learn new things or what might be beneficial for them as an individual,” she continued.
SHEC Week is offering a number of ways for students to get involved having a variety of activities including meditation, a movie night, free candy, a relationships roundtable, as well as workshops on busy lives and body image. With the numerous events O’Neill, Cody, Jamieson and all of SHEC’s volunterrs hope for a successful SHEC Week and hope to add more events for next year.
“I think it will most likely be done next year because [Laura Jamieson] is coming back as coordinator, so I would imagine it would continue,” O’Neill said.
She continued, “We’d listen to student’s feedback and try getting an event that we haven’t had before, like the relationship counselor.”
Jamieson said she would like to have more events directed at first year students to make transitioning easier. “I hope to…reach out to first years, doing more outreach with them because they…can get cut off in their little demographic so I’d like to be trying to reach out to them more…the first years are important to me and I think that would be my number one for sure.”
SHEC is an MSU service best known on campus for providing a variety of contraceptive products and anonymous pregnancy testing. But what many Mac students don’t know is that SHEC offers many other resources, not solely related to sexual health. Services like confidential peer support, numerous health pamphlets, a lending library available to students and the community at large, and a huge knowledge of on and off campus referrals are some of the lesser-known support SHEC offers at McMaster.
Located on the second floor of the student centre, room 202, SHEC is open 9:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and until 4:30 p.m. on Friday. SHEC is run by the coordinator, a small group of executives and a few dozen volunteers, all of whom undergo a weekend of training each term, as well as additional monthly training.
Yashoda Valliere / Student Health Education Centre
If you can think back to your ninth-grade sex-ed class, you’ve probably heard of human papillomavirus (HPV). There are more than 100 strains of HPV – over 40 of them can infect the genital area (these same strains can also infect the mouth and throat). Some strains can cause genital warts, and others can even cause cancer.
What if I told you that you’ve probably already been infected with HPV?
At some point in our lives, around 75 per cent of us will have an HPV infection without knowing it, but 90 per cent of infections go away by themselves within two years. So why should you care? HPV is the most commonly transmitted STI and, sometimes, it can have deadly consequences. Infection rates are the highest among people in our age group. It can be passed on through contact between genitals, or between genitals and the mouth. Health problems that can be caused by HPV include:
Thinking about HPV protection is not limited to heterosexual intercourse and applies to anyone who is sexually active in general. So, what can you do to protect yourself? Using condoms and dental dams is a good idea, but these methods are not 100 per cent effective, especially considering that the infection can exist in the surrounding groin area. Another option that you might consider is an HPV vaccine. Two brands of vaccine are currently on the market: Gardasil and Cervarix. They both help prevent infection by certain strains of HPV associated with cancers and those associated with warts. People of any sex can use Gardasil, while Cervarix is specifically for people with a cervix.
If you’re in your late teens to mid-twenties, you may have already been given Gardasil for free in grade eight or grade nine due to a government-funded program. Gardasil is given in three injections over six months, and these injections in our early teens were only administered to girls at the time. It is now known that Gardasil is safe and effective for people of any sex, and it can help prevent not only cervical cancer, but also genital warts, anal cancers and precancerous lesions. Gardasil protects you from four strains of HPV: two of those cause over 70 per cent of cervical cancers, and the other two cause over 90 per cent of genital warts. So, if you’re interested, it might be worth checking out whether you’ve already had the vaccine or not. Until June 2013, females born in 1993 and 1994 can get the vaccine for free from Toronto Public Health. Everyone else must pay for the vaccine – it is not covered by OHIP, but it may be covered by your parents’ health insurance plan. If you would like to have the vaccinations done at the Student Wellness Centre, drop in to MUSC B101 to book an appointment.
At the end of the day, vaccinations and anything else that affects your body is 100% your personal choice. No matter what you decide, it’s good to have the facts to make an informed decision and keep yourself and your partners safe.
Alon Coret / Student Health Education Centre
The other day, I attended a yoga class for the first time in my life. I made this decision for a few reasons: a personal challenge for myself (escaping my comfort zone), the fact that my mother keeps telling me about how much she enjoys it, and curiosity. I had no idea what I was going into, but I can definitely say it was a worthwhile experience. This was essentially my first workout in months. Yes, a workout indeed. The class I went to was Dahn yoga, a Korean form of yoga that focuses on energizing the body. Dahn yoga sees the body as composition of chakras, or energy centers. The various stretching exercises are meant to tap into our bodies’ potential and strengthen our core (dahn jon).
We started by standing around in a circle and doing basic stretches and breathing exercises. Gradually, things became more intense. I found myself having to do sets of pushups and abdominal bicycle crunches. Embarrassingly enough, the lady beside me was doing everything far better than I was, even though she could easily be my grandmother. “I have been doing this for months,” she said. The class continued for an hour and a half, going through a series of stretches and moves for every muscle in the body. At the end, we all lied down in the “Sleeping Tiger” position, which is far less comfortable than it sounds (Suffering Tiger, I thought to myself). Marek, our instructor, told us to internalize our negative thoughts and self-judgement as we were doing this exercise. He then let us relax for a few minutes, and I nearly fell asleep from getting too comfortable.
Overall, I was not too surprised by the physical exercises – except that they were more difficult than anticipated. What I was surprised by was the immense focus on mental and spiritual well-being. Marek was smiling, and had a positive attitude for the duration of the session. He constantly reinforced the importance of happy, constructive thoughts and in making everyone feel like a part of something greater than themselves. He laughed with members of the class, complimented them and corrected their positions. He made us greet the people standing beside us both at the start and finish of the session with “Ban-gap seum-ni-da” (nice to meet you), and “Chun ha haseyo” (be the fulfillment of your soul). (I claim no expertise in Korean, so I apologize if my transliterations and translations are incorrect.)
One poster I noticed in the studio was called “Map of Consciousness.” It shows a ranking of different levels of consciousness, or brain energies, measured in LUX. I am not certain about the science behind the theory, but the main point is this: it takes far less effort to think negative thoughts, and have emotions of guilt, shame, and regret. Reaching happiness, peace, and joy is a higher level of consciousness we should (and can) all strive for. “Love yourself, and respect yourself,” said Marek. “Then you will be able to receive love and enjoy life.” This may not sound like anything new, but it is a life lesson we seldom keep in mind.
I would like to conclude with a verse from another poster I saw in the studio, called “Prayer for Peace.” This poetic prayer was written by Ilchi Lee, the originator of Dahn Yoga, and was read at the United Nations’ 2000 Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders.
“I offer this prayer of peace, with all my fellow earth people; For a lasting peace on earth”.
Theresa Tingey / Student Health Education Centre
The sex positive movement has promoted safe, consensual and open sexuality for decades. Proponents of this ideology celebrate the healthy and pleasurable aspects of safe sexual activity among consenting adults. In an article for “Health Promotion Atlantic,” Lisa Tobin of Planned Parenthood Metro Clinic of Halifax explains that sex positivity includes having an open-minded, inclusive and comprehensive definition of sexuality, viewing sexual health as a human right, and focusing on both the positive as well as some of the possible negative consequences of sexual activity to allow people to make their own informed decisions about sexual activity. Though many would agree nowadays that this perspective is more than reasonable, the sex positivity movement has not been without its share of opposition.
One particularly interesting and ardent opponent of this idea of sex positivity was John Harvey Kellogg, of Kellogg’s cereal. Besides building a breakfast empire, Kellogg also wrote about his very conservative views concerning sexuality in his books “Plain Facts about Sexual Life” and “Plain Facts for Old and Young,” which were published in the late 1800s. For example, Kellogg was especially concerned with masturbation. He believed that masturbation degraded the moral integrity, physical and mental health of both male and female practitioners and resulted in cancer, urinary tract infections, impotence, epilepsy, loss of vision and even death. Modern scientists, however, would tell you that not only does masturbation not cause these illnesses, regular masturbation has been linked to decreases in the risk of prostate cancer, increases in libido and mood and possible immune system benefits.
In any case, Kellogg supported some especially drastic procedures to dissuade people from masturbating. Such procedures involved applying carbolic acid to a female’s clitoris, circumcising males without anesthesia and literally suturing male genitals in place to prevent erection. In each case, Kellogg suggested that to truly discourage masturbation, individuals were to associate pain with otherwise pleasurable sexual activities. He even designed corn flakes to decrease interest in sex through his flawed notion that their high carbohydrate content would reduce sex drive. Interestingly, the creator of Graham Crackers, Rev. Sylvester Graham, also shared this belief that a bland diet low in protein would minimize libido.
Kellogg was just one of many opponents of masturbation around in the Victorian era. At this time, females were also discouraged from riding bicycles, as the combined activities of straddling the saddle and vigorous pedaling were thought to lead to sexual arousal and masturbatory tendencies in females. Special bicycles were even created that had a depression in the seat to avoid contact with a female’s genital area. Again, the reasoning behind this ridiculous modification was that bicycling would not only arouse women, but that this arousal was immoral and should be prevented.
Though we’d like to think we’ve come a long way since the Victorian era, some ideas concerning sexuality and positive sexual behavior still seem taboo. It was not until 1973, for instance, that homosexuality was no longer classified as a mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Moreover, as of January 2013, same-sex marriages had only been legalized in 9 states.
This brings up some of the important reasons for having positive attitudes towards sex and sexual practices. Not only does this mindset support equal rights, it advocates for creating spaces for talking about safe sexual practices. Having non-judgmental and open-minded conversations that use inclusive language to discuss sexuality can help people express themselves in ways that are not only enjoyable, but are also safe and respectful of their partners.
So next time you eat a bowl of cereal or ride your bike to campus, maybe consider some of the ways that you can have a more positive attitude towards sexuality. You can also stop by the SHEC office in MUSC if you have any questions, comments or concerns about your own sexual health.
Matthew Greenacre / Student Health Education Centre
One of the best pieces of advice given by a professor must have been when Dr. Valliant told his first year chemistry class about to take a midterm to “think by the seat of your pants.” Though it seems like an odd phrase, it makes sense. Often when students come to a question they find unfamiliar, something that they cannot remember studying, they get anxious and waste time sweating and fumbling to search their memory. Instead it helps a lot more to sit back, breathe, and think about the question. Just wing it. After all, it’s just a question, and this way you might reason through it.
Test anxiety, or simply worrying about presentations, papers, and readings can be absolutely debilitating. Students can easily become overwhelmed, fret about doing their work and wind up watching seasons and seasons of online TV instead of beginning a paper or cracking their textbook open. Then when there is no other option but to frantically pour over their notes, or pull an all-nighter writing, the student often winds up unhappy with their work. Finding yourself in this situation is not simply about intelligence, or a matter of having a poor work ethic. Indeed, it’s quite the opposite. It is the difference between striving for success and being driven by the prospect of failure. The subtle difference between these two states is all about one’s attitude to work. Being able to see it as a challenge that one will enjoy taking on, like a puzzle, or it can just be, well, hard work.
Making the switch can be much harder for some than others. For many students, it can be as simple as taking a deep breath during our exam, being okay with not knowing the answer, and then giving “thinking by the seat of your pants” a try. However, those who might find this unthinkable, and who have a lot of trouble quelling their anxiety on a day-to-day basis could really benefit from taking the time to sit back and actually clear their mind.
A long history of studies going back to pioneering work of Jon Kabat-Zinn (a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School) in the 1970’s and ‘80’s have found that meditation reduces stress and anxiety, and even chronic pain. Now, before dismissing this article as a sneaky attempt to get you into saffron robes, lighting incense and hanging around with hippies, please note that meditation does not have to involve any of those things, unless you really want it to. It is really is more about taking a deep breath, letting go of your worry and being able to deal with your problems. Also, for most of us, stress is mental, not physical pain like as hunger, so it makes sense that we should be able to use our minds to release this stress.
Mindfulness-meditation in particular is about being able to let go of your fears by focusing on the moment. Because, when you think about it, fears are just a manifestation of the feeling that something bad will happen. By being in the moment you do not make those pessimistic assumptions in the first place. That does not mean that you no longer think the thoughts that worry you, but rather you just calmly choose not to follow these trains of thought. What is known as focused attention meditation is the painstaking practice of focusing on a single thing or sensation, noticing when you’ve been distracted by something else, and then bringing your attention back to what you are supposed to be focusing on. By practicing this, you train yourself to see the problem in front of you clearly, helping you figure out how to solve it, while learning not to automatically get nervous about the “what if’s.” Research at universities in Beijing, Oregon and Dalian have found that meditation effectively improves one’s attention and self-discipline, which is not surprising if one is spending an appreciable amount of time focusing intently on something very boring, such as breathing.
So given that, it’s understandable that meditation is not everyone’s cup of ginseng infusion, but if you are having trouble with stress it is important to take the time to deal with it. This time is never wasted, because less stress lets you focus and be more productive when you are doing work. Exercise is one of the best ways to relieve stress, as is spending time with friends. However, if you are interested in meditation resources to learn more about it and help you get started are posted on the SHEC Blog, which you can visit at www.shecmcmaster.tumblr.com.
