ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, August 9, 2007

Encourage sexual self-restraint on campuses
By Colleen Carroll Campbell

This month, as wide-eyed freshmen descend on campuses across America for their
orientation to college life, they will be greeted with warnings about
cigarettes, tanning beds, late-night pizza runs and binge drinking. They will
learn the hazards of sexual harassment, the hallmarks of homophobia and the
dangers of date rape. Then they will begin the bacchanal that has become
American collegiate life.

Thrust into a culture where casual sex is the norm and dating is virtually
nonexistent, most students will learn quickly that the campus mantra of
self-restraint applies to everything but sex. Students urged to wear their
sunscreen and eat their veggies may find student-run porn magazines on campus
newsstands, university-sponsored health websites offering how-to advice on
every conceivable form of sexual activity and officially sanctioned speakers
discussing topics unfit for print in a family newspaper. Many will discover
that, aside from the zealous promotion of condoms, health professionals and
counselors at their schools are more concerned about students' fitness regimens
and drinking habits than their sexual choices.

This troubles Dr. Miriam Grossman, a U.C.L.A. psychiatrist and author of
"Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her
Profession Endangers Every Student." After publishing her book anonymously last
year to avoid reprisals from professional peers, Grossman has begun publicly
defending its thesis. She argues that the eagerness to promote sexual
experimentation, debunk gender stereotypes and avoid moral judgments has made
sexual irresponsibility on campus easier and convinced students that there are
no problems that cannot be solved by condoms, antibiotics or abortion.

As evidence for her grim diagnosis of campus life, Grossman cites medical
studies and the growing ranks of troubled, diseased and depressed college
students.

Her most compelling proof comes from her clinical experience. She tells of
patients such as Stacey, a disciplined student-athlete who follows campus
orthodoxy by eating right, exercising and using condoms with her multiple
sexual partners. Yet Stacey has returned to an old habit of cutting herself
with knives and razors to relieve anxiety after learning that condoms did not
protect her from HPV, a sexually transmitted infection that can cause cancer.

Such unhappy surprises are common among Grossman's patients, most of whom are
young women:

Heather is puzzled by the worthlessness she feels since becoming a "friend with
benefits" to a man who refuses to spend time with her outside of bed. Kelly is
still reeling from the post-abortion emotional trauma that few campus health
professionals acknowledge or talk about. Delia dreams of having many children
but does not realize that her habit of casual sex could hurt her chances
because the chlamydia she contracted may have damaged her fallopian tubes.
Brian, a gay student who regularly meets strangers for sex, is more concerned
about quitting smoking than getting tested for HIV, thanks partly to campus
attitudes that stigmatize cigarettes more than risky sexual behavior.

Grossman's critics will note that universities cannot control student sex
lives. Yet university officials can influence student behavior by promoting
virtue over vice and creating a campus climate that encourages students to make
good choices. On campuses where students are reminded that sexual self-control
is an admirable goal, fewer behave recklessly than on campuses where abstinence
is ridiculed, self-restraint is encouraged for buffet lines but not bedrooms
and sex is treated as just another contact sport.

That more campuses fit the latter description than the former should worry
anyone who knows the stark truth that too many students learn only after
graduation: The consequences of decisions made during their college days can
last a lifetime.

Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, television host and St. Louis-based
fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her website is
www.colleen-campbell.com.