UCSB: DTF or GTFO.

College Magazine recently recognized UCSB students’ innate inability to stop hooking up with each other, ranking the campus third on its list of the Ten Most DTF — down to … frolic — colleges in the nation. The report focused on criteria such as the university’s number of available sex classes, amount of free condoms distributed, clinical resources and party scene in compiling the list. UCSB lost the stiff competition to University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University, ranked first and second respectively.

Third-year economics and accounting major Kareem Hout said the ranking could serve as UCSB’s selling point among the horniest population of prospective freshmen: 18-year-old males.

“The reputation and the constant ranking on various lists definitely attracts a certain crowd and it definitely makes guys want to go to this school,” Hout said. “The only downfall is that you constantly hear about the high number of STIs at UCSB. That’s definitely not cool and something to worry about. Other than that, it’s great fun.”

Health and Wellness Advisor Joanna Hill said the alleged penchant for one-night stands and casual sex stems from the campus’s party-centric culture.

“According to the National College Health assessment, which asks questions about things like sex and alcohol, we’re typically higher in a lot of areas compared to other schools,” Hill said. “We’re kind of known for our ‘work hard, play hard’ attitude.”

Health and Wellness Educator Malek Guerbaoui said the modern hook-up culture, where partners tend to partake in sexual intercourse for physical satisfaction rather than romance, is a relatively new phenomenon.

“From studies across campuses, it appears that although there is quite the number of students participating in hook-ups, at least 50 percent are hoping to initiate something more than that,” Guerbaoui said. “They are simply not communicating it and their partner continues to believe that they are only in it for sexual gratification. Many times they do not communicate the fact that they are seeking something more than just a hook-up for fear of it becoming awkward.”

The student body’s general inability to “keep it in their pants” naturally comes with certain risks, Hill said.

“The important thing is that if you choose to be sexually active, there’s a chance that you can get an STI,” Hill said. “It’s not only ‘dirty people’ or ‘sluts’ that get STIs. It is like getting a cold — you shake somebody’s hand and there’s a chance of you getting a cold.”

Hill said open communication between partners is integral to preventing the accidental transmission of diseases.

“It is important to build a healthy relationship and good communication because all sexual relationships do potentially have risks,” Hill said. “Good relationships vary for everybody; it doesn’t necessarily mean monogamy.”

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