Some girls still wait for knight in shining armor
by Lyndsey Breard
Like most girls, I like fairy tales. You know, the whole knight in shining armor and princess living happily ever after thing. Oh, I know. Reality is far from happily ever after, and because sexually transmitted diseases are spreading in epidemic proportions, it will be good for my generation to see an ever after.
In 1950, there were five sexually transmitted diseases that were all treatable with antibiotics. Today, there are over 30 STDs, and 30 percent of those are incurable.
The statistics glare at me. One in four women and men age 18-25 have a sexually transmitted disease. Just because you may have never heard that statistic before does not mean that this is not happening. It simply means that we are just not talking about it.
This is a big problem to me. Being in college, the world is your footstool. You have so many opportunities and options to explore. You have a window of time to be young and carefree. But, in light of the statistics, many people are trading their bright future for a moment of passion.
Is it worth it? May I give a resounding NO! An unplanned pregnancy is not the worst that can happen to you. It would change the course of your life, but you would still have future. HIV and human papilloma virus (HPV) are seriously robbing my generation—the future of America—of ever achieving their purpose on earth.
Everyone knows about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and knows that it is deadly. HPV, an even deadlier virus, is spreading across the country like a horrible trend. No condom can protect against HPV, because it is contracted by skin to skin contact. HPV causes genital warts, and in girls, it is the number one cause of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the second leading cancer killer among women. In 1997, more people died from HPV related cancer than died of AIDS. This is certainly not a fairy tale. This is definitely a nightmare.
I’m a college junior. I’m not a researcher of medical professional. I’m writing this from the perspective of someone who attends a local university, lives in the dorm, sees the pain that premarital sex causes in my peers—and is in the middle of this nightmare—and I am ready to wake up.
I have committed to being sexually pure until marriage. Aside from religious beliefs, looking at the statistics and the emotional impact of having sex before marriage, abstaining is the only option to secure a healthy future, not to mention an invaluable investment for my future marriage.
I want to be part of the “waking up” of my generation. I want to stop the sexual nightmare and give my peers a dream back.
Right now, along with a group of 10 girls from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and Louisiana Tech University, I am coordinating the One Knight Only banquet, an evening of encouraging college age women to commit sexual purity. The evening focuses on topics such as health, lasting relationships, love, marriage and self-esteem. It is a girls only event because guys have a totally different perspective on sex, and this is a powerful message for the target audience of college women because women are affected more physically and emotionally by giving themselves away in premarital sex. In addition, it is being planned by college girls, not just another group of adults saying don’t have sex.
It is time to end this nightmare. We are doing our part to help give our peers a dream back, because even though fairy tales rarely come true, everyone should have the chance to have an ever after.
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