EDIT: Condoms prevent pregnancy or STIs?

While Americans worry about teen pregnancy, young adults seem to forget that sexually transmitted infections are also side effects of unprotected sex. According to a TIME story Tuesday, fewer teens are using condoms than 10 years ago and more teens are contracting STIs.
Before you begin to worry about an apparent epidemic among young people — and most sexually active Americans on top of that — here is what is going on with this inflammatory article. According to a Center for Disease Control report, 60 percent of teenagers used prophylactics or some form of contraception 10 years ago. According to the Education Council of Canada, 50 percent of college-age people are practicing safe sex.

We must consider this has happened over 10 years, that two different studies were conducted on two groups of people and that each study was performed by a different organization. It is easy to compare these two numbers and say that less people are practicing safe, clean sex. This isn’t definitive proof, however, that students are fornicating without a rubber. These statistics could be more indicative of an increase in birth control, but then again, who’s totally sure?

Let’s take a look at that first statistic. The CDC said just more than 60 percent of young adults use some form of protection during sex, whether that is a dental dam, female condom, birth control pills or IUDs. That is 40 percent less than what the statistic should be. Far too many people are still having sex without total protection — either at risk of pregnancy or STIs — and something has got to be at blame for 20 million Americans contracting an STI every year.

The CDC reported in February that 88 percent of women used birth control pills. While birth control is incredibly effective in reducing the chances of a pregnancy, they in no way, shape or form protect people from STIs. With reality shows like “16 and Pregnant,” the media surrounding having a child earlier in life than expected overwhelms Americans. With so much emphasis on having a child, people tend to forget exactly how real STIs are.

Why are television shows that glorify having a child at 16 what people have to watch to learn about the repercussions of having unprotected sex? What about students that cannot impregnate their partners? People that identify as homosexual are sidelined in most sexual education courses because there is such an obsession with pregnancy.

Over the past 10 years, 11 percent more people have used Plan B, according to the CDC report. In our society, laws have been passed to allow underage female-bodied people to purchase Plan B without a prescription. But, again, the discourse surrounding unprotected sex glazes over how easily it is to catch an STI.

The main reason people use condoms is to avoid pregnancy nowadays. If you forget a condom, don’t worry, because Plan B also exists. Unfortunately, people are preoccupied with pregnancy and are not as concerned with STIs, especially because so many infections are not visible on the genitals.

We live in a time where there always seems to be a solution to a problem. Forget your phone? Facebook message your friend instead. Forget a condom? Take or suggest Plan B. But there is no immediate solution for STIs. They involve a doctor visit for a test and then a price tag for treatment options. It just seems a whole lot easier to worry about pregnancy than it is to worry about herpes or gonorrhea.

There is nearly not enough education about STIs in schools. There are thousands of schools in the United States still without sexual education courses. Students still learn that abstinence is the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and contracting diseases like trichomoniasis. The TIME article mixes two insoluble statistics, but it certainly opens up broader conversation on how the steady rate of contracting an STI is a combination of home experience and a lack of honest education.