“It’s very important to have an open dialogue about sex,” said sophomore Hailey Moses at Guilford’s first Vox (Voices for Planned Parenthood) meeting. “Because people do it a lot. And they don’t need to be afraid to talk about these things.”
Vox (which means “voice” in Latin), is a new campus organization that seeks to educate people about their reproductive rights and freedoms. It provides support for people dealing with reproductive issues on campus and will soon offer free car rides to Planned Parenthood.
“I thought it was ludicrous that a college like Guilford didn’t have a Vox program,” senior Co-President and Co-Coordinator Beth Tyson said. “The idea is to educate people about safe sex, sexual health, the right to choose and where to get the resources to ensure those things.”
But Vox wants to reach beyond the Guilford College campus. With a presidential election coming up, Vox wants to raise political awareness about reproductive issues and help promote pro-choice candidates.
“Vox is a great way to get involved with contemporary politics,” said senior Co-President and Co-Coordinator Ana Martinez. “We can focus on things like George Bush’s global gag order. Guilford can be a very insular place, but with Vox we can try to raise awareness about bigger issues outside the campus setting.”
While the political aspect of Vox is important to the founders, some members have become involved for reasons that are more personal.
“I’m a single mother and I know how difficult it is for young women out there,” said junior CCE Vox member Adrienne Martin. “I have a cousin who is 21 and is pregnant and in college and it has been very hard for her. She has to finish out her senior year and start being a mom all at the same time. I want to help out other people and help set up support for them.”
Providing support and guidance to Guilford students will be Vox’s bread and butter. Martinez plans to work with the Heath Center to provide information to students about Planned Parenthood. She is particularly interested in combating the widespread misconception that Planned Parenthood only deals with abortion issues.
“People think that Planned Parenthood is all abortions all the time,” Martinez said. “That’s simply not true. Only about 9 percent of what they do is related to abortion. We want to focus on the other 91 percent – cheaper birth control, counseling and guidance.”
One of Vox’s first projects will be drafting a list of friendly pharmacies in the area that will provide birth control and the morning after pill with minimum fuss.
“When people go to get birth control they can feel vulnerable and a negative reaction at a pharmacy can put you over the edge,” said Tyson. “I think it is very important to know where to go to avoid that. Legally all pharmacies are supposed to have at least one person to sell birth control. It is unfortunate that we even have to make this list.”
Initial interest in the group has been strong, particularly among first-years. All of the club’s founding members are seniors which makes maintaining underclassmen interest in Vox imperative if the group is to last longer then this year.
Interest in Vox has also been overwhelmingly female, a trend which the group is very interested in bucking.
“This affects guys too but I think the fact that there are two people involved in the sex act is ignored when it comes to pregnancy,” said senior Annie Irving at Vox’s first meeting. “It’s all put on the women. We’re the ones who get pregnant so we can take care of the birth control. But it’s called having a partner for a reason. It’s very problematic. We need to get more guys in here.”