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Show Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007, features@statesman.usu.edu 7-97-1769 ,—Page 5 o Focus: Touchy Subjects Thefuture of •/••••£;•• male birth control BYMANETTENEWBOLD features editor Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Girl goes on birth control. Though contraceptive myths and options have been around for centuries, the majority of birth control and prevention methods are only readily available for women. There are currently more than a dozen choices of contraception for females, versus two for men - condoms and vasectomies - which has left family planning a little one-sided, according to "Male contraceptives on the horizon," a 2006 article by Bridget Kuehn. "We can only wish there will be more options for men," said Karrie Galloway, CEO of Planned Parenthood. "I would certainly put in a vote. Many men do want to share the responsibility. But most research has shown that male birth control effects men hormonally like it does women and they are less likely to tolerate it." However, good news is on the way. Kuehn's article, which printed in the Journal of the American Medical Association, states that scientists' results show that within the next five to 10 years, there may be several hormonal methods of contraception available for men. Eventually men may be able to get shots of testosterone to trick the brain and reduce sperm counts, or they may have a pill of their own. However, the idea of more options of male birth control gets mixed opinions. Kuehn's article states that according to a 2002 survey of more than 9,000 men in nine countries, more than 55 percent of the men said they were willing to use a hormonal male contraceptive, although rates of acceptance varied by country from nearly 29 percent to about 71 percent. Between 50 and 83 percent of men said they already used contraceptives, and 55 to 82 percent said the both partners were involved when selecting the method of birth control. Brandon Forster, senior in Spanish education, said he's not sure if he would want to take a pill or get hormonal injections. "Everything inside me says no, but we'd have to look into it," said Forster, who got married in June. Since then, his wife has been on the pill. "I'm not going to say it's the woman's place, but I don't think men would be as good at remembering to take it." Jeremy Hubbard, junior in electrical engineering, agrees. He said if hormonal shots were available for men, he would definitely not >*.. k: J sSR ^ Statesman Photo Illustration [1 See BIRTH CONTROL, page 7 Allies on Campus serves as safe zone for GLBT students BY BRITTNY GOODSELL JONES assistant features editor Being gay in Utah. Joe, USU alumnus, said he returned from an LDS mission, started school and then realized he was gay. Perhaps more importantly, Joe, who asked to not have his last name printed, said a difficult part of the process was learning he could embrace that. "With the religious aspects, you are scared to be anything other than normal for fear of what other people would say," he said. "You are always judged, especially being gay. My parents came from a church standpoint so they knew what we were up against, so they said, 'You can go to counseling and fight this. Although Joe said a few months of counseling helped show him how to deal with his parents, Joe and the counselor came to the conclusion that he was not in a position to overcome homosexuality. "I don't feel like I need counseling for homosexuality," Joe said. "But there are a few people out there who don't want to accept it and want counseling to control tendencies. So if they want it, they should be allowed to have it and not be pushed to embrace their homosexuality. If they don't want to, why should they have to?" LuAnn Helms, psychologist at USU, said it is common for some people to think counseling will help solve a lifestyle like Joe's. "Just because they're gay doesn't mean they need therapy," Helms said. "But counseling can help with the stress of discrimination." A few resources on campus, such as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Allies services and Allies on Campus have been created over the past few years, which serve as a safe zone for such individuals. Maure Smith, program coordinator of GLBTA, said their services are like an umbrella for individuals looking for resources concerning nontraditional lifestyles. Resources include periodicals and a private research station to gather information. There is even a resource library with more than 600 items consisting of magazines, books and DVDs. "It's kind of sad, but some of these USU resources were discarded or defaced," she said. "We needed a place to protect these resources." Smith said she also works with Allies on Campus. According to the Allies Web site, http://www.usu.edu/glsrc/ allies/about.html, Allies on Campus is a network made up USU faculty, staff and students. The organization was developed from examples of other allies programs in effect at other schools in the nation. Helms, training director at USU Counseling Center, said she helped develop Allies on Campus for USU. "I was surprised USU didn't have one/1 she said. After many hours of planning with a steering committee, Helms said the first official Allies seminar training happened in April 2004 and they have continued since then. Joe said his resource of support was a guy he met online who helped Joe talk about his fears of church, friend and family discrimination. He also said he can see the advantage of such GLBT resources and wished there had been such strong resources when he was going to school at USU. "It would have given me a more healthy environment to meet people, somewhere to go and to not be scared of the people I would come in contact with," he said. "If you're in a public library and you look at the homosexual section and maybe it's placed right next to the Christian section, and someone comes in or one of your friends come in, oh shit. "It just would have been somewhere to go and know people there don't care. I could feel like I had friends that understand and accepted me for (homosexuality). "It is a very scary thing when you T H I S IS T H E SYMBOL FOR Allies on Campus. It was designed by a USU student want to live that way and if you don't and each color and symbol represents GLTB safety and shelter. know if people will accept you." The members of the Allies on ties such as a panel of GLBT individuals Some responsibilities include openly Campus provide support to GLBT who answer questions taken from the declaring support for GLBT individustudents. Another purpose of the orgaparticipants. als, being comfortable with GLBT stunization, according to the Web site, is "We should attend for the same readents, approaching them to discuss to strive to reduce homophobia and son we would attend any other sensitivtheir issues and concerns, and to do heterosexism through education, advoity training because we want to undertheir best to use inclusive language and cacy, awareness and creating a network stand anyone different than ourselves," avoid stereotyping. of allies. she said. "People should not assume that Smith said to become an Allies Helms said the seminar is like "GLBT everyone is heterosexual," Smith said. member, individuals need to attend a 101" and covers a wide variety of infor'"When you see a ring on a persons left three-hour seminar, which is offered mation in three hours. At the seminar, • four times during the semester. The participants sign a contract, which [1 See ALLIES, page 8 seminar offers different training activi- states the responsibilities of the ally. |
