Thursday, 2nd April 2009
Why I care about condom machines (among other things)
“Parking and condom machine dominate University debate” said a timesofmalta.com headline yesterday. The last paragraph of the story read: “The debate was chaired by Peppi Azzopardi, who urged the students to look at the wider picture and not just issues which solely concerned students.”
The reporter was clearly not out to flatter students. But I am a student, and I feel I have some explaining to do:
Why the students’ union only cares about parking, stipends and exams
The students’ union can only speak as a united body about straightforward issues like parking, because University students are not one breed of identical thinkers.
Why does the union of midwives never speak about abortion? Or the union of lawyers about divorce? Because they would lose half their members if they did, and that would not be a good thing at all because all lawyers should feel that they belong to the union of lawyers and all midwives should feel at home in the union of midwives.
The students’ union should only support issues that concern students as a whole – transport, stipends, education and exams.
The condom machine
Who cares about having a condom machine on Campus? This writer puts her hand up.
Does she really, really, need a condom machine at University? No.
The condom machine is a symbol. It is a symbol of secularism, of self-determination, and of healthy living. All three are principles I hold dear, and every time the proposal for a condom machine on Campus is rejected, it is my dear principles that are rejected.
I am not worried by the fact that there is no condom machine at the University, but by the fact that the possibility of getting a condom machine is considered a bad idea. How can condoms ever be a bad idea?
So as long as I remain a student at the University of Malta, I will keep talking about condoms and the machines that dispense them. And no number of newspaper articles will convince me that I should be ashamed of myself for doing so.
For busy readers: At least read this paragraph
Who said that students only talk about condoms and parking? Has no one heard about Graffitti’s valuable work with immigrants and their rackety protests against warships? Does no one know about the students who publish a monthly newspaper, The Insiter, and maintain a news website? Has no one heard SDM, the Studenti Demokristjani Maltin, call for an educational campaign on immigration to address the prevalent fear? Does no one know about the medical students who teach sex education in secondary schools and who take teddy bears to children’s wards? Does no one know about the students who teach English at the detention centres?
There may be a lot more to the University of Malta than condom machines, parking, and students who don’t know who the Rector is. You just have to scratch beneath the surface.
Lara Vassallo is a IIIrd year medical student at the University of Malta. She is the Editor of insiteronline.com.
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Comments
Go invest on condom machines and maintaining them!
Like we don't have enough places to throw the money in.
And not just this, but anything else which university students do not need. And if you think any other institutions does this, spare it. They don't.
If it's just for your symbolism, find somewhere else to place it.
Symbolism my foot.
but yet again this is just a thought...
NOT
please tell me that things have moved on, I believe the last time I was at Uni (about 12 years ago) we were debating the same thing.
Lara's brief but concise explaination of how this is about making a statement about secularism and more importantly freedom of choice is a refreshing and much needed voice of reason...
and about time too!!!
I'm glad that you are encouraged by our comments, however, I would like to point out that promoting safe sex and promoting abortion have nothing to do with each other, and cannot possibly be classified together under your umbrella-term 'freedom of choice'.
Personally, I would promote condom machines because they help to avoid 1. STDs and 2. unplanned pregnancies . And yes, I am happy that the condom machine might stand for 'freedom of choice'.
However, while one should be free to have sex, divorce, etc... one can never be given the freedom to kill another human life. To an extent I agree with euthanasia because it is the choice of the individual over his OWN life, but no-one can decide when to end another person's life without their consent.
Why don't we legalise murder while we're at it? That would give us real freedom!
food, books, banks, computer services etc... are all things that students require daily while at university ... but i don't think fornication can be classified as one of those essential things students would need while on campus ...
Although there were equally good and bad comments, can we realise that this is truly nonsense?
Move to other pastures. I apologise to the next viewers of this article for i too have wasted your time
:-).
Condoms are good, they prevent diesease and unwanted births, for the most part. personally, i believe that if a couple WANT to have safe sex they will and if they don't they won't, either way there are countless pharmacies that have them and not just the local. And we really do need more parking.... seriosly!
There is hope for real FREEDOM OF CHOICE in Malta, free from the cultural and religious conditioning. With freedom of choice comes, political freedom, freedom of relgion, sexual freedom, freedom of divorcing, freedom of abortion. Yes the condom machine is a symbol, it is a symbol of the freedom of choice. One one has to use the condom machine, if they do not want to, but no one is impeding anyone else from its use.
How can u sit there and say that you don't care about the increase in STD's?
Pushing abstinence or no sex before marraige is a seperate cause and a personal one - do not mix it up with pushing for saftey and good health.
I agree Andrew Martinelli that its pretty stupid that students are embarassed about buying condoms - but if its a reality, then stupid or not we have to deal with it somehow.
You seem to think that the provision of a condom machine is going to cause a mad frenzied rush to buy condoms so they can then go and have rampant sex. Hardly. It will simply provide an opportunity for students already planning to have sex to do it safely.
People like you would rather sit and watch the statistics on STD's and teenage pregnancy rise (which they are doing in Malta) because you'd rather not admit that people are having sex and that they're having unprotected sex.
The issue is not about advocating sex - that is a personal decision based on beliefs which are unlikely to change, but about accepting that youths want to have sex and trying to educate them about doing it safely.
Use condoms if you have to (I am not against them in any way) but what's the point in having a condom machine on campus?? Would you really feel more comfortable buying a condom from university rather than from a pharmacy?? Are you so shy in openly declaring the safe-sex principle you so dearly embrace??
" Ejja ha mmorru Copyclub.."
" ..stenna ha ngib condom..."
ROFL!
What do you mean exactly by saying that a condom machine doesn't have anything to do with university? University is not just about regimental studying... it is almost a second home, a way of life.
Do a gym and pool have anything to do with university? Do we really need all those shops and restaurants in and around university? What about the Chaplaincy, which happens to have the nicest environment on campus? Apparently working out, spending money and praying have a lot to do with university life, but sex does not.
Let us get real and grow up.
The fact is that the majority of Maltese young people have an active sex life, with or without condoms. I hardly think that students will be gripped with lust at the very sight of a condom-machine. And please also note that condoms are also widely used by married couples. University students (and staff) are responsible adults who can decide when and where to have a sexual relationship. So why do condoms still come attached with a stigma?
On the other-hand, if you still want to insist that condom-machines encourage sex... I reply with a blatant "SO WHAT?"
And yes, having a machine on campus is 'promoting' sex. Doh, it's blatantly obvious. In the same way as having the hypothetical marijuana dispensing machine is going to get more students to smoke, since it's readily available, the condom machine on campus is going to make condoms, and hence, sex, more readily available. Now people can do what they want and have as much sex as they like, but it is not the business of the university to make access any harder or any easier.
Please - base your arguments on hard fact, and not scare-mongering. I should hope that is not what this university is training medical students to do.
And saying that installing a condom machine is just to defy the church..well thats just an assumption you've made, hardly true just because you type it.
You may find the fact that a large percentage of youths don't use condoms 'silly' but it doesn't change the statistics that show a rise in STD's and teenage pregnancy. And no condoms do not make sex more available - research shows that youths are having sex regardless of whether they are able to get hold of condoms or not. It is because this society makes them feel so uncomfortable and ashamed of having sex that they find going to buy condoms to be embaressing - so many would rather risk it.
The point is that the number of STD's will continue to rise and not making condoms and information on sexual health available will not change these statistics, in fact they will likely get worse.
I disagree with the above statement wholeheartedly. So the reason you want to have a condom machine is simply to defy anything the Church (or any other religious organisation, for that matter) suggests you do? That is extremely immature, especially when, through experience, you learn that secularism helps no one.
Also, you are self-determined because you wear a condom? Oh, please. Go do some voluntary work, help a charity, do extremely well in exams, help those in need or achieve something that will remain with you for the rest of your life. That is what shows self-determination.
And finally, what's this talk of wearing a condom being equivalent to healthy living? Not being promiscuous and being responsible (don't be fooled into thinking that simply wearing a condom makes you responsible) in relationships is what really makes you responsible.
Condoms have their place in a pharmacy. Placing them everywhere, is, to be honest, an insult to our society and a neat little trick to steal money off people.
I personally would suggest a sexual health campaign on campus alongside a condom machine.
I disagree with you that condoms will encourage students to have sex, studies have shown that this simply isn't true.
I think people are suggesting the University as a good location is because 1) a large percentage of the age group at risk of STD's and pregnancy can be found there, and 2) because Malta is small, people are embaressed to go to pharmacy's because condom use is still a stigma and they worry someone may recognise them or they're just too embaressed to ask for them.
the presence of a condom machine may offend you, but would you risk an increase in STD's and pregnancy over being offended? After all if you are against sex before marraige then I would expect that you will retain your beliefs regardless of whether there is a condom machine or not and that other people with similar values will do likewise.
Anyway, what I DO disagree about is the condom machine on campus. Having a condom machine on campus is basically promoting (safe) sex, but promoting sex nonetheless, which is not the remit of an educational institution. Anyone who wants to have sex and use condoms can go and buy them from a pharmacy; there is no need for them at university. While a rejection of the thing may be offending your beliefs, the presence of the condom machine will be offending mine.
Hence, there is no easy solution which will make everyone happy. But keeping a condom machine off campus is a good place to start.
AMEN!
2) The press are more happy to underline that few people attended a debate rather than give coverage to the endeavours of the student movement. Its useless complaining about apathy and not helping students promote the opposite.
3) Compared to countries abroad, the conditions for student organisations and student representatives is abyssal. For those that may not know about how student house is organised, you literaly have 15-20 student organisations sharing a few tiles of space. Student representatives end up spending money out of their own pocket because ultimately their student organisations lack funding and get little financial support apart. Compare that to student organisations abroad, who get paid, have staff and are publically funded.
I think student reps in Malta do a great job and should ultimately get the recognition they deserve!
I must say I really liked your contribution here and I do agree with your reasoning. You have hit the nail on the head!
I was in three KSU executives and various other organisations and i always was confronted with the same grumbling that students are apathetic and only care about stipends, exams and parking. 5 years on it seems they are still grumbling about this matter. What used to frustrate me is that these same people (including the media) never realised how much students actually do on campus and off it (while following a full time course). The examples you mentioned are just a few of the important endeavours students participate in order to better university and their society.
Let’s take the opportunity to say what generally isn’t said (i will put this in a seperate post):
On an unrelated note, I wonder how a condom machine is a 'symbol' of self-determination and healthy living. If you define self determination as free choice of one’s own acts then you are free to purchase a condom from ANYWHERE and have protected sex with your partner.
"it is my dear principles that are rejected": if there ever was a case of shooting yourself in the foot... Dear Lara has it not occurred to you that you might be rejecting someone else's principles?
That said pls note that the condom machine issue to me is totally irrelevant; If the majority WANTS it, then go ahead, although I personally think we do not NEED it.