I remember shutting the door quickly after my goodbyes with my mother the day I moved in, the day I would begin a new chapter on my own at UT. I was in a rush to live independently for the first time and knew I only had a couple of days before classes would fill my schedule, so I tasked myself with exploring the city. I felt invincible. I, this freshly plucked peach off the tree, with no care in the world of the potential consequences of letting men take a bite with no protection.
However, since then I’ve learned no one is above the risk of STIs, and it doesn’t have to be scary to get tested for one. You just have to find the right person to help you handle all those potential creepy crawlies hiding in your fruit basket.
“One of the biggest aspects of ensuring that people come to get tested and continue to … is that you make it so that everyone is comfortable,” said Isaiah Mosley, women’s and gender studies and Plan II senior. “This is an incredibly invasive, uncomfortable experience … so it’s important that these environments are warm and welcoming.”
I remember feeling panicky the first time I got tested — it wasn’t until I stepped into the Kind Clinic that I became at ease. The walls lined with colorful posters encourage safe sex practices, and the live-action “Cat in the Hat” playing in the lobby. It felt like I was a child again waiting for my dentist appointment, hoping I could pick my sticker out once I was all done. It’s vital these spaces are designed with the people they’re for in mind, for people who are new to being sexually active and are clueless to STIs.
“They (UHS staff) are all trained on customer service standards when they’re interacting with students,” said Laura Kinch, HealthyHorns associate director of communication and marketing. “From the people who work at the front desk to the providers and nurses inside of the clinics.”
While it’s important to make these physical settings comfortable, it’s necessary for all medical staff to reflect those comfortable spaces as well. I remember being weary of medical personnel, as I come from a hometown where being queer is not the most popular lifestyle. Now, UHS isn’t the only clinic in Austin, but they do the job and they do it well by making sex education and STI testing accessible to UT students at a low cost and nearby location.
“No one should be singled out when talking about testing,” Mosley said. “It’s not a gay thing or a straight thing.”
Almost everybody makes fruit pies, gives blowjobs and has penetrative sex. It’s scrumptious, but it’s important to remember the safety that goes into the ever so sweet activity.
Espinoza is a rhetoric and writing and journalism junior from Laredo, Texas.