Home > About SSIS > Newsletter > September 2002

SSIS Newsletter*

Sexual Advances

New Sexual Research

By Heather Ames

I’m Too Sexy

According to research by graduate student Glenn Scheyd of the University of New Mexico, men tend to overestimate how women rate their physical attractiveness. Scheyd interprets his finding, which he presented at the annual meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, as a direct result of an evolutionary tactic in males to pursue all possibilities of reproduction. He explains, “Men are known to systematically overestimate the sexual intent of women.” However, this narcissistic tendency was not limited to men. Woman also overestimated their ratings, but only in cases where they were judging what a male they found attractive would think of them. In all other cases, women judged their own attractiveness rating accurately. Men did not discriminate when judging who would find them attractive. In other words, men are always delusional, and women are delusional when they have high expectations.

Ostrow, L. Do we overestimate our own desirability? Psychology Today. Sep/Oct 2002; 35:24

Scheyd, GJ. Estimating the sexual intentions of others: the mediating role of physical attractiveness. The Human Behavior and Evolution Society Annual Meeting. 2002.

I’ll Only Get Better if You Don’t Tell Mom

To assess the role of confidentiality in the motivation of adolescents to seek sexual health services, Diane Reddy and colleagues conducted a survey of over one thousand girls under the age of 18 visiting Planned Parenthood clinics in Wisconsin for the Journal of the American Medical Society(JAMA). The results of this survey showed (no surprise) that under-age girls would be less likely to seek necessary sexual health services such as STI testing, treatment, and contraceptive services. 59% of the girls surveyed said that they would stop or delay seeking health care services if laws existed mandating parental notification. 11% said that they would not seek STI testing or treatment even if the mandate only applied to prescribed contraceptives. Reddy suggests that the reason many STI’s would go undetected if parental notification was necessary for birth control prescriptions is that many girls only choose to be tested for STI’s in the context of the required gynecological exam for prescribed contraceptives. The JAMA survey was conducted in response to mandatory parental notification laws that were proposed in 10 different states in the past 5 years.

Reddy DM, Fleming R, Swain C. Effect of mandatory parental notification on adolescent girls' use of sexual health care services. JAMA. 2002;288:710-714.

 

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Dear SSIS:

A Monthly Q&A Column**

A Contraceptive Query

Dear SSIS,

I am female student at Brandeis, and I have recently begun seeing a fellow Brandeisian. We’ve only been together for a few weeks, and I am not quite ready to begin having sex with him, but I don’t want to rule out the option either. I do know, though, that when I do start having sex, I want to be on the pill…only, I don’t want my mom to find out about it. As a college student with limited funds, how can I go on the pill without my mom finding out?

~ Birth Control Bound in Cable

Dear Birth Control Bound,

There are a number of possible solutions to your query, so fear not!

For your closest birth control pill provider, the health center is a great option. They can start you off with a free sample pack for your first month, and there are also doctors available at the health center to both perform free pelvic exams and prescribe the following doses you will need. Since Brandeis Insurance does not cover the cost of birth control, you may opt to pay cash for these (which means your parents won’t see the bill). The health center guarantees your confidentiality, but your visits will all be recorded in your personal medical record. This means that you must sign your consent to have anyone, parents included, view your records. So even if your parents call and ask, they will be denied any information in your records.

Another option for your consideration is Planned Parenthood’s* Boston location. Planned Parenthood offers a wide range of birth control pills available on a sliding scale basis, meaning that so long as you provide evidence of your enrollment (course schedule, transcript, etc), your payment will be anywhere from partially to fully subsidized. The best part is, your parents will never know, and your visit will not be recorded into any of your official medical records.

Be sure to keep in mind that once you go on the pill, it takes a full menstrual cycle to take effect. So plan ahead, and have fun!

Good Luck,

SSIS correspondent

*Planned Parenthood is only a commuter rail and T-ride away!

1055 Commonwealth Ave., Boston

(800) 258-4448

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/directory.html

*Contest Announcement

We at SSIS have been brainstorming creative titles for our brand new newsletter. And while we have come up with some fun ideas, we thought that coming to you for help would be our best bet in finding the best heading out there.

So SSIS is holding a contest to come up with the new name of our newsletter. If you would like to participate, simply email your most creative idea or ideas to us at SSISnews@brandeis.edu. The creative genius who comes up with the new heading will be awarded a special prize from SSIS, not to mention, the prestige of having given the SSIS newsletter its name! Can you think of a better deal? I think not! So make the most of your day by emailing SSISnews@brandeis.edu!

**You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got Answers!

Got questions? SSIS can help! If you’re interested in having your questions answered in our Q&A column, all you need to do is email them to ssisnews@brandeis.edu, and perhaps the next time you’re reading the SSIS newsletter, your question will be featured!