Newspaper Page Text
From
the Male Ferspective-
COLLEGE CAN BE
HEALTHY
Planned
Parenthood
and
Minor’s Rights
by Lorenzo Benn, Jr.
It is known that college is a place where
many young people receive an introduction
to the world of vices. Young people un
scarred by the many vices of the world come
to college and begin to pursue such practices
as smoking and drug abuse. Students who
were athletic enthusiasts prior to college
become lazy and proceed to get physically
out of shape. These students lose their once
healthy physiques only to acquire a rather
unhealthy, flabby look.
I am sure that this statement can be
argued both pro and con with a substantial
amount of validity from both positions, with
reference to specific cases. However, I am
presently concerned with one case in parti
cular. The case of the students in the A.U.
Center. As I take into account the activity of
the students in the Center, I must sadly con
tend that their behavior does not serve as a
very good refutation of my original statement.
Student indulgence in unhealthy practices
is ever so present in the A.U. Center. To see a
student smoking cigarettes, smoking dope,
and drinking liquor is certainly no unfamiliar
sight among many of the existing peer groups.
Along with these dangerous and detrimental
acts, many students also indulge in sleeping
all hours of the day and eating between meals
because they have nothing to do, or perhaps
I should point out, as a result of their being
too lazy to find something to do. The effect
that these two practices have on the students
can be easily seen on the bodies of the males
and females who look as if they have not had
a minute of exercise in years. Their bodies
take on that unhealthy, flabby look I pre
viously mentioned.
There are many couples in the A.U. Com
plex in which both the male and female in
volved do not seem to be of any assistance to
one another in respect to encouraging each
other to stay healthy. Somebody has to make
the initial step. However, many of the couples
seem to drag each other down the long road
to. unhealthiness. Amen to the person who
said, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.’’ It
would be quite advantageous if a male stu
dent would invite his female friend out to
play tennis on a Saturday morning rather
than over to his dorm to smoke dope and
drink liquor on a Saturday night.
There are probably many reasons why
students resort to such abusive behavior. One
of the reasons is the peer group. This is a
reason which I feel is quite prevalent in the
A.U. Center. The peer group influence is
often a vital element in relation to one ac
quiring certain practices. The peer group has
an enormous amount of influence on certain
individuals. In many instances students do
things because everybody else is doing it.
They fear being rejected and left out. They
want to be included and in. However, what
they fail to realize is that everything is not
worth being into, no matter who is doing it.
As long as you have different people in the
world, people will be doing different things
for the simple reason that no two people are
alike. An individual must find that which he
feels is right for himself and live by that. One
must be discrete with one’s actions.
It is my wholehearted contention that
college can be healthy. I feel college should
be a place where men and women come to
develop themselves to the best of their capa
city — mentally and physically — in order
that they achieve perfect harmony within
themselves, with the people around them and
with nature. In order to achieve this harmony
students should engage themselves in natural
and healthy practices which will be beneficial
to them. Students should refrain from allow
ing elements to enter their body that can
bring harm to them. They should eat a well
balanced diet and be careful of the foods they
eat. Students should work out everyday, using
some form of exercise to stay in shape. Also
one should take time out each day, if only
for a minute, to observe the beauty of the
nature around us. If one works hard to
practice these things, I guarantee they will
feel better and live better. So I will see you
on the tennis court!
by Debbi Newton
The growth of sexual freedom in America
has failed in most areas to motivate the type
of legislation necessary for the sanctioning of
adequate public health services to assist those
persons who have initiated the movement for
“free” love; viz., minors. The political impli
cations are clear — the lower voting age set
simply does not represent a constituency
that deems political catering.
A Consortium on Early Childbearing and
Childrearing held in Washington, D.C. in the
summer of 1970 bore results that testified to
the estimated proportion of American
women, aged 15-19, who were sexually active.
The results showed that more than one in
ten females in the fifteen year age bracket
were sexually active; more than two in every
ten for the sixteen year olds; more than three
in every ten for the seventeen year olds; more
than four in every ten for the eighteen year
olds; and more than six in every ten for the
nineteen year olds.* In many cases, where no
law prohibits the dispensing of birth control
devices or materials on planned parenthood,
medical physicians continue to refuse these
services to minors for fear of parental re
taliation that could cost them their liveli
hoods.
In August of 1973, the Planned Parent
hood Federation of America’s legal counsel
issued a statement regarding the records of
minors for the affiliates of Planned Parent
hood. The statement provides a guideline
which accords the handling of medical records
of minors the same legal status as those of
of adults. This is to say that, unless there is
an existing state statute that sanctions the
release of the minor’s medical records to the
parent or legal guardian upon consent, the
records are to be maintained in the strictest
of confidence. Ironically, the serious social
and health consequences that are likely to
occur from this legislative stagnation may
well turn out to be the “straw that breaks
the camel’s back.”
^Statistics reprinted from Getting It To
gether, A Publication of Youth and Student
Affairs Program . . . Planned Parenthood
Federation of America, Inc., 810 7th Avc.,
N.Y.C., 10019, Vol. 4, No. 1, Sept., 1973.