Emory’s Sexual Health Awareness Group (SHAG) will be distributing 500 free Trojan condoms on campus to promote safe-sex practices following their selection by the Great American Condom Campaign (GACC).

According to the Advocates for Youth website, about 3,500 college students from more than 900 colleges applied to take part in the GACC, a campaign that is the result of a project collaboration between Advocates for Youth and Trojan.

Advocates for Youth will give 1 million condoms to 1,500 SafeSites, or areas designated to distribute condoms in an effort to raise awareness and educate students regarding sexual-health issues.

President of SHAG and College senior Daphne Lin said SHAG is creating fliers to advertise the year-round mass condom distributions, which will take place once every month at public sites that will vary throughout the year.

The first mass distribution will be at Cox Bridge on Oct. 30.

Lin said each month the distribution will have a different theme.

The first distribution will have a trick-or-treat theme not only to attract students, but also to make the distribution fun, she said.

“We will also distribute information, booklets and brochures about STDs and statistics about college sex and how it affects college lifestyle,” Treasurer of SHAG and College sophomore Jayme Chen said.

According to Lin, the distribution of name-brand condoms will help students connect the issue with a product they recognize.

“This is a great opportunity to not only have all these condoms, but I also think it’s something that students at Emory might recognize more, especially because they can associate with the name brand condoms,” Lin said.

SHAG started as a subcommittee of Emory’s Undergraduate Global Health Organization, but eventually grew into its own group after some students realized there was not yet an organization on campus that promotes safe sex and open dialogue about sex, Lin said.

Lin added that SHAG is part of an ongoing effort at Emory to create more open dialogue on campus.

“It’s a really big issue on college campuses. Having sexual dialogue isn’t really prevalent or widely known but it’s really important since STDs are affecting people on a large scale. Some colleges are really conservative ... getting this knowledge out there will help inform college students about dangers,” Chen said.

According to the Advocates for Youth website, SafeSites will also distribute information in addition to condoms and will hold events to raise awareness and correct misconceptions regarding sexual health issues.

“It’s not that we just want to give out condoms, we want students to realize that sexual health is important and should be addressed,” Lin said. “It should be considered part of your overall well-being. Providing easy access to things that they need to protect their health is important for us to do.”

— Contact Roshani Chokshi.