The idea of students as out-of-control, sex-crazed creatures, recently released from the sexual shackles of living at home isn't quite accurate.
Sex is still a big part of university life; it's a time when young people have the freedom to explore – the variety of sexual practices revealed in the survey confirm this. The constraints of parents and school are lifted and the nature of the university environment provides the opportunity for sexual experimentation.
But this does not necessarily translate into promiscuity. Some 35% of respondents lost their virginity aged 18 or over, while almost half of students (44%) have had either no partners or only one sexual partner since starting university.
It's evident that most universities are providing access to information and advice about sex, relationships and sexual health. There are posters on campus advertising screenings, dedicated university health centres, free condoms and nightclubs that hand out free chlamydia-testing kits. Furthermore, respondents to our survey felt confident that they knew where to go for information, help or tests – but despite all this, students simply aren't getting tested or accessing and acting upon the information available: 66% have had unprotected sex and 49% of female respondents had taken the morning-after pill.
A social stigma clearly still exists for students when it comes to getting tested for sexually transmitted infections, with embarrassment often cited as the typically British response to not getting checked out. There needs to be a change in attitude among young people, engendered through the culture at universities and in British society as a whole. There needs to be an environment where students aren't self-conscious or concerned about judgment. One where getting STI check ups and free contraception is normalised – as everyday as popping in to the campus bank.
It is clear that students in 2012 are taking a risk with their sexual health despite the information and advice available. Although accidents do happen – split condoms, forgetting to take the pill and so on – a proportion of students are still also taking risks. Alcohol is likely to have a connection, but also, safe sex seems to have become less important in the minds of today's students. Last year, 31% said they always used condoms, but this year the figure is 27%.
The issue needs to be pushed higher up the agenda – discussion of the risks needs to increase. And to end the threat that our embarrassment and "look the other way" tendencies are having on our health, a cultural shift needs to occur.
Oliver Brann is editor of studentbeans.com
