Student Health Services

Abstinence is the only 100-percent foolproof method of preventing STIs and unplanned pregnancy.

What is Abstinence?

• Deciding not to participate in sexual activity
• Waiting for the right person, time and place
• Finding ways to be intimate with someone without the exchange of bodily fluids
• Abstinence can last for an evening or for years.

Abstinence can mean different things for people depending on that person’s definition of sex.

So if you choose to be abstinent, that’s great, you are doing the best thing you can do to protect yourself from unplanned pregnancy and STI’s. Here are a few things you can do to maintain your decision to abstain from intercourse:

• Discover societal pressures that influence your choices
• Avoid high pressure sexual situations
• Take ownership of your personal rights in sexual relationship
• Decide in advance what sexual activities you will and won’t participate in and discuss these with your partner (not in bed)
• Learn more about your body and how to keep it healthy
• Learn more about available birth control methods should you choose to have intercourse and have back-up methods available
• Learn about STIs; the signs and symptoms and how to protect yourself

So even if you are not having sex right now, it’s still good to review the information in the rest of these pages so that you are ready when you do decide to engage in sexual activity.