The debate on campus about safe sex and contraception is just beginning to heat up thanks to the sudden disappearance of condom packs from the shelf of the Guardian store located in the Edusports Complex.
It started off with an observation posted on the “NUS Confessions” Facebook Page which read:
This is not a confession. This is an announcement for all the lusty couples and hook ups out there. The only place you can buy condoms in NUS is at the new Guardian at EduSports. Stay safe! 🙂 You’re welcome.
Given that the convenience stores on campus have always avoided selling condoms, the sale of condoms at Guardian seemed highly unusual.
When asked to comment about what was so unusual about it, Martin Cheong, Assistant Welfare Secretary of NUSSU Executive Committee (EXCO), said, “I felt it was off [sic] because NUS never sold condoms before in PGP, or 7-11 or Cheers, so I suspected that it [the sale of condoms] could be an oversight on Guardian side and/or OED side.”
The revelation that Guardian sold condoms was swiftly followed by this post, again on the NUS Confessions Facebook Page:
Either there are ‘authorities’ stalking us on FB or NUS is filled with horny/desperate people, just so you guys know barely a day after the “Guardian at Edusports sells condoms” post, the whole shelf is EMPTY! O:
Initially, no official explanation was given for the empty shelf but on the 5th of February, Low Zoey, an NUS undergraduate, posted a photo on Facebook with the text suggesting that “The Guardian on campus got rid of all the ‘Family Planning’ products at the request of the ‘NUS Management'”.
RAZORTV interviews done on the 6th of February also seemed to suggest that most students were surprised at the removal of the “family planning products”. One NUS student responded saying, “it is a bit of an overreaction, they should have waited or just talk to people instead of being so rash about it.”
Commenting on the possibility that NUS might have a policy against the sale of condoms, Ali Hasnian, third-year PhD bioengineering student staying at the Graduate Residences, said, “Singapore, as a whole, is a conservative society and still discourages teenage sex. Every country has its own norms and values, which may be illogical at times, but should be respected if you are there. Anyone who wants to have ‘safe sex’ or the married couples can still go to Clementi, less than a kilometre away from UTown, and buy condoms. Having such a policy doesn’t have much harm but a policy opposite to it can give rise to certain social or may be administrative issues in NUS.”
On the other hand, Maria Konovalova, an undergraduate exchange student from England, said, “Having a university in denial of students having sex is beyond stupid … it is up to the university to make each and every one of their students aware of sexual health. What types of protection are available, such as femidoms or the pill, the effectiveness of each, and how even if they are on the pill, they should still use a condom till they know the other half is clean.”
It was not long before a student interest group, the “Gender Collective” highlighted the incident of the missing condoms from the Guardian store to the authorities. In a statement posted on Facebook on the 6th of Feb, Lin Tong, a member of the ‘Gender Collective’ revealed that after clarification with NUS, the condom packets will return back to the shelves. The statement also explained that the sudden removal of the condom packets from the shelves was an “honest mistake by a well-meaning administrator and an internal NUS issue.” NUSSU, likewise, issued a statement on Facebook clarifying that “there is currently no such rule that bans the sale of condoms on campus.”
It is not known whether the clarification of policy by the NUS authorities will mean that the convenience stores, currently on campus, such as 7-11 and Cheers will now have condoms on sale. It is also still unclear why the convenience stores have refrained from allowing the sale of condoms on campus despite there being no rule against it.
When contacted, Winston Ng, manager at the corporate communications department at Fairprice, wrote, “Our Cheers store has been in operation for over a year at NUS and we have not sold condoms since we were informed condoms were prohibited for sale on campus. We will be seeking greater clarification on this matter with the NUS administration.”
The RIDGE understands that the policies regarding the sale of contraception have not been updated for a long time and there was possibly a time when the sale of condoms were banned on campus. It was only after this incident, and the publicity that accompanied it due to the ubiquity of social media, that review of the policies will take place.
Perhaps more importantly, the authorities have yet to address Zoey’s concern about the fact that the “University Health, Wellness & Counselling Centre (UHWC) does not give out, sell or stock condoms. However, they do prescribe the morning after pill and the contraceptive pill.”
It is quite common for universities elsewhere to give out free condoms. Cambridge University, for example, is just one out of many universities that dispense condoms to freshmen “to help them avoid STDs and unwanted pregnancies during their first year.”
It is still unclear why the method of contraceptive pills are seemingly favoured over condoms in UHWC. Nevertheless, Gender Collective has pledged to continue the conversation. In the same statement on the 6th of February, they announced that they will be “meeting the Vice Provost’s Office soon to discuss the availability of protection methods on campus.”
Certainly there seems to be many policy gaps regarding safe sex that need to be rectified and soon. Can the local universities afford to remain conservative given the influx of exchange students from other cultures and the changing attitudes towards sexuality in our generation? There is perhaps no better time to talk about safe sex than now.
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If you have views about the sale and distribution of contraceptives on campus, please do not hesitate to email your viewpoints to gendercollective@gmail.com.
[UPDATE 08 Feb ’13] – Winston Ng, manager at the corporate communications department at Fairprice, confirmed that after clarification with NUS, condoms will now be stocked in Cheers as well.