For National Condom Week, Sex Out Loud combined an unlikely pair of precautions into one 'Wear One When You Ride' parade: helmets and condoms.
Sex Out Loud has been strategically placing posters around the campus advocating safer sex.
'Sex Out Loud is looking to encourage students to use protection for every sexual experience they have,' said Sex Out Loud Program Facilitator and UW-Madison senior Veronica Harried.
Most students think that simply putting on a condom before a sexual act is enough to protect against sexually transmitted infections.
'Many sexual-health educators say, in practice, condoms are not 99.9 percent effective,' Sex Out Loud project coordinator and UW-Madison senior Daniel Semo said.
The major push of Sex Out Loud during National Condom Week is increasing the effectiveness of condom use in general.
'If you handle, store and use correctly?? you should not be having any problems,' Semo said. 'It's not just knowing how to use one; it's not leaving [condoms] in your window by sunlight. It's not putting it in your wallet.'
Although Sex Out Loud gave away condoms to all who cross them during the parade Tuesday, the group stressed that free condoms are available during the entire year at locations including University Health Services, the Sex Out Loud office, The Campus Women's Center and the LGBT campus center.
'All of our organizations are paid for by student segregated fees,' said Sex Out Loud Coordinator and UW-Madison senior Patrick Emanual. 'You've already paid for all of these supplies, so students should definitely take advantage of it.'
All of these efforts by Sex Out Loud are made in an attempt to reduce the number of sexually transmitted infections, but according to statistics from UHS, campus condom use could be improved upon.
'UHS gives the statistic that they diagnose four new cases of genital warts per week, three new cases of chlamydia per week, and one new case of genital herpes per week,' Emanuel said. 'That's on average what the U.S. has seen in the past year.'
Through all of their programming, Sex Out Loud hopes to increase the sexual safety and pleasure of UW-Madison students.
'Our mission statement is promoting healthy sexuality through sex-positive education and activism,' Semo said.
