At the end of Sexual Responsibility Week, UC Santa Barbara students and community groups gathered to provide testing for sexually transmitted diseases. The event was held on Feb. 13 and provided resources and sexual education to students.
Resources such as the Campus Advocacy Resources and Education Center provide resources related to sexual health. Seetha Rao / Daily Nexus
While there is a clear recognition that college students may be engaging in many sexual activities, the importance is to understand ways to be safe and healthy for everyone involved. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Only about 40% of sexually active individuals in the [18-19] age group report consistent and correct contraceptive use.”
“College students are engaging in a lot of sex. Sex education is something that not a lot of people get,” fourth-year communication major working with Health Equity Advocacy (HEA) Jey Jerue said. HEA is a support system on campus to help navigate healthcare access, insurance and health equity concerns.
Jerue said that sex education is an important first step to reduce the stigmas that revolve around sexual interactions, sex education and sexual health.
“As a society, most people are taught that sex is a taboo topic. People are taught to keep it inside, which can be very harmful not just for mental health but also for physical health,” Jerue said.
Eva Bretado, the manager of the mobile unit at Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinic (SBNC), attended the fair to administer sexually transmitted infection (STI) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests. The SBNC works to provide and mobilize healthcare that is accessible and affordable within Isla Vista.
“What we’re doing here is to reach out to the community and make it accessible,” Bretado said.
According to the Connecticut Orthopedic Institute, one in four college students has a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
“We are focusing on sexual reproduction and safety,” Bertado said. “There is a stigma. Sometimes people don’t want to come to us, and we want to change that.”
Elsa Grandos, the executive director at Standing Together to End Sexual Assault (STESA), tabled to bring awareness for sexual violence and assault survivors, as well as their loved ones.
“It’s really important to extend [STESA] services to as many people in the community as we can because in order for us to end sexual assault, we need everyone involved,” Grandos said. “The other reason we want to raise awareness in the community is because we know that there are survivors out there who haven’t sought help.”
Grandos continued, saying sexual violence and assault “doesn’t discriminate by any demographic.” According to her, there are many myths about the causes of sexual violence.
“For instance, people think that sexual assault is caused by people wearing short skirts or tight shirts or that if someone drinks too much, they invite sexual assault,” Grandos said. “We want to make sure that when people talk about sex and sexual interaction and contact, they do so in an accurate way.”
According to Grandos, getting active consent, which is a conscious, voluntary, honest and unpressured ‘yes,’ is the first step to a safe sexual encounter.
“It’s not just about assuming someone’s silence means yes. It is actually giving active consent,” Grandos said. “When you’re having that kind of interaction with someone, you want someone who’s enthusiastic about having that interaction with you.”
Emily Burke, a fourth-year communication major with Campus Advocacy, Resources & Education (C.A.R.E.), an on-campus free, confidential center offering health services and support for survivors of interpersonal violence, emphasized the importance of consent and the support her organization offers. Part of prevention education through C.A.R.E. is teaching students what makes a healthy relationship.
“A healthy relationship would have all of these: consent, communication, respect, trust and support, honesty and accountability, self-confidence and personal growth,” Burke said.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, roughly one in five undergraduate women and roughly one in 16 undergraduate men experience sexual assault or rape while in college.
“I don’t want to belittle women’s experiences at all because they’re as important, but I feel like for men, there’s a stigma around interpersonal violence,” Torres said. “While the ratio of women who experience sexual assault in college is higher, there are still a significant number of men who experience the same things.”
Kimberly Torres, a fourth-year sociology and feminist studies double major, tabled for Associated Students (A.S.) Take Back the Night, a student organization that hosts and attends events to raise awareness around assault and violence, as well as their repercussions. Torres explained that organizations such as Take Back the Night are important for making support systems accessible.
“A.S. Take Back the Night and the [C.A.R.E. Center] office are a perfect alternative because calling the cops sometimes is more traumatizing,” Torres said. “Coming to university and having resources where they’re so open about it makes me feel so much better and like my voice is heard.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 4 of the Feb. 19, 2026 edition of the Daily Nexus.
