Let’s talk about sex...ual health

This year 65% of sexually active students admitted to having had unprotected sex in the past. 31% of you have apparently been well behaved, while the remaining 4% chose not to say whether they had done it or not.

Remember you can pick up condoms for free at a number of places on campus, including the Student Activities Centre on Floor 2M of the Union Building in Beit (which also hands out dental dams and pregnancy tests) and Imperial College Health Centre.

Also don’t forget that at least once a term Imperial College Union runs sexual health clinics in conjunction with the Terrence Higgins Trust, where you can get advice and free STI tests.

Speaking of STIs, a whopping 88% of you claim to have never had an STI. 3% think it’s possible they’ve had one but aren’t sure, 4% did not wish to say, and just 5% said they have had an STI at some point in the past.

Perhaps the apparent low rate of STIs is down to us simply not getting tested often enough – 45% of the sexually active students say they’ve never had an STI test.

For 13% of you, your last test was more than 12 months ago; 31% of you have been tested in the last year and 5% as recently as the last month. This time 6% of you did not wish to say when you were last tested.

We also asked you all where you’re getting sex and masturbation tips from. The biggest information source this year was the internet, with 61% of you getting tips “online”.

49% of respondents say they take advice from their partner and 37% from friends. Porn was the next biggest category, with 29% of you admitting to sourcing your ideas from the stuff.

Just 11% of students get sex tips from books (maybe we should’ve asked you about 50 Shades Of Gray separately), 9% from movies and magazines and 2% from “other sources”.

14% of you apparently “still don’t know anything lol”. Maybe you can get some tips from the sex survey?

We gave you a chance to tell us what those “other sources” were in a text box. Most of you just said “experimentation” or “my own imagination”, and at least one claimed to have “learnt on the job”.

Two of you said you’re getting sex tips from “your mum” – very original guys – and one claims to get them from “the Rector”.

So whatever you’re doing and wherever you’re getting the idea from, do us a favour and get tested once in a while, yeah?