Spring semester is officially in full swing. Schedules are becoming finalized, textbooks are being purchased, and announcements about upcoming events taking place over the next 16 weeks are slowly popping up around campus.
Just this past week, I was walking through campus and couldn’t help but notice a certain poster for an event Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) will be hosting in the coming weeks. Maybe others saw it too; it was pretty hard to miss.
In large red and black letters, ASI’s advertisement reads: “National Condom Day. Tuesday 2.14.12” accompanied by a giant image of red condoms placed in the shape of a heart.
I, for one, was appalled.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for students educating themselves about sex and how to be protected. That is not my issue. What irks me most about this campaign is its commingling with a certain little holiday that is heralded as the day of love.
Say what you will about Valentine’s Day being a consumer holiday thought up by Hallmark and other greeting card companies, but I personally support what it stands for. Valentine’s Day was created as a day to reflect on those you love, whether that person be a parent, a child, a friend or a romantic partner. 
To me, Valentine’s Day is supposed to be that one day out of the year where you make a little extra effort to tell others how much they mean to you. I’m not suggesting we all buy into the hype, but as a whole the day is dedicated to love—and what better thing could there be to celebrate?
So, when exactly did a holiday about expressing love turn into a holiday about doing the dirty?
Of course, National Condom Day wasn’t thought up by ASI or masterminds here at California State University, Stanislaus. Yet, something seems really backward in our society that this day of love is now chalked up to nothing more than a day where people get it on. To me, love does not equal sex, nor will it ever.
February 14 should be more than that. Have a National Condom Day of awareness, but don’t mix it with my day of love.