Sexual Health on Campus: Kits, Clinics and First Year

Every September, tens of thousands of young adults across Canada move into residences and shared apartments for their first year of college or university. For many, it is the first extended period away from the family home, and the social side of campus life, including dating and sexual relationships, becomes a regular topic of conversation in student media and public health circles.

Post-secondary institutions have responded in different ways, from orientation-week kits to full-time sexual health centres.

A new setting, not a new starting point

Surveys of Canadian youth have long indicated that a share of students have already had sexual experience before they arrive. High school sex education varies by province and school board, so knowledge levels differ widely among incoming students. What changes on campus is mainly privacy and independence. Living away from parents removes many of the practical constraints that shaped earlier relationships, such as curfews, shared bedrooms and the need to be discreet.

Orientation-week kits

Some schools and student unions put safer-sex supplies into welcome packages or hand them out during frosh week. A typical kit contains external condoms, lubricant and printed information about sexually transmitted infections and consent. A commentator in the Canadian press noted one such kit given to a new resident, and observed that the supplies were as likely to turn up as a gag, for example flavoured condoms stretched over a head at an orientation party, as to be used for their intended purpose. Public health bodies describe condoms as one of several measures that lower the chance of infection and unplanned pregnancy, alongside testing, vaccination and contraception.

Campus sexual health centres

Many universities and colleges operate or fund health clinics, and some student associations run peer-staffed resource centres. Services can include confidential infection testing, contraception information, referrals and workshops on consent. Student-run centres have a long history in Canada, and their range and funding vary from school to school.

Attitudes and debate

Views about young adults, sex and alcohol-heavy orientation culture are not uniform. Some public health educators emphasize normalizing conversation about sexual wellbeing and note that experimentation is common in early adulthood. Others stress concerns around consent and sexual violence on campuses, which have led many Canadian institutions to adopt formal sexual violence policies. The article that prompted this overview took a lighthearted view of the first weeks of school and treated experimentation as a normal part of young adulthood, while also pointing to campus resources as relevant.