With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, FOURtune of Health showed students the real cost of romance – a $0.67 condom.

During the first of four presentations put on by the Health Education Resource Center “Affording Relationships, Dating and Sexual Activity,” Valorre Harmon, sexual health education coordinator for the HERC, covered topics ranging from sex and marriage to prostitution and the dangers of pornography.

Using actual prices from a local store, Harmon detailed the cost of buying condoms in bulk versus in smaller amounts.

“The price of a $0.67 condom, and maintaining a good relationship with yourself and your partner could prevent many other expenses in your life such as financial, emotional and physical problems,” Harmon said.

Harmon also talked about Rubber Lovers, a program that encourages safe sex and provides free condoms to participants.

This was after Harmon broke down the cost of marriage and divorce, and before talking about the cost of a pregnancy.

Harmon placed the hospital cost of delivering a child under normal circumstances between $5,000 and $10,000, and estimated the cost to support an infant for two years at more than $12,000.

Students asked many questions when a slide containing a list of sexual activities ranking them by danger was discussed.

It was one slide among many listing the dangers surrounding sexual activity.

“Eighty percent of people with STIs have no symptoms at all,” Harmon said.

This led to the conclusion that people who do not show symptoms of an STI do not get tested and continue to spread the disease.

Harmon used humor to express the dangers of sexual activity under the influence of alcohol by suggesting the phrase “I have genital warts” could be confused for “I’m really good at sports” by someone who has had too much to drink.

“In Illinois, you cannot give consent when intoxicated,” Harmon said.

She said if someone can prove they have even one drink in their blood system, they could accuse sexual partners of rape.

Harmon ended the presentation on the topic of pornography and sexual addiction.

One slide was covered with pictures of celebrities, which Harmon explained had something in common: Sexual addiction.

While Harmon warned of the financial cost of pornography, phone and Internet sex, she discussed more serious consequences.

Broken marriages, scarred relationships and lost jobs were listed as possible consequences of watching pornography, but Harmon also said that more aggressive behavior can occur when a person believes what happens in adult media is real.

She showed a video about prostitution and human trafficking to show how extreme the sexual problems can get.

Harmon covered a broad range of topics concerning students.

“I think by coming to this presentation people will be able to understand healthy and unhealthy aspects of a relationship in order to understand their own relationships,” Harmon said.

This is not the only presentation in the FOURtune of Health program.

“FOURtune of Health is an integrated financial health program,” said Jackie See, financial health coordinator for the HERC. “So, each week, we will be presenting on affording various health topics.”

Sarah Gaines, nutrition education coordinator for the HERC, and See will present information about healthy eating behaviors, and paying for them on a student budget Feb. 9.

Brad Tribble, alcohol and tobacco education coordinator for the HERC, is scheduled discuss the expense of alcohol and alcohol-related behavior Feb. 16.

The last segment, which will be Feb. 23, See will cover budgeting, credit and debt cards and other financial topics.

“I created this program this semester because I believe if students are not physically and emotionally healthy (their) finances will be put on the back burner, which can create a vicious cycle of negative behaviors,” See said.

James Roedl can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmroedl@eiu.edu.

Valorre Harmon, the Sexual Health Education Coordinator for the HERC, presents information on affordable relationships, dating and sexual activity during a FOURtune of Health presentation Tuesday night in the Coleman Hall Auditorium.(Audrey Sawyer/The Dai

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