Safe Sex Study: Floridians Among the Worst

Floridians aren’t very good at practicing safe sex.

That’s according to the recently released Sexual Health Rankings study, sponsored by Trojan Brand Condoms. The study puts Florida almost at the bottom of its state-by-state rankings with an overall ranking of 47. Only Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana are less well-versed in safe sex practices than Floridians. When it comes to safety, no one bests folks from Vermont, researchers also noted.

Trojan’s State by State Safer Sex Index is a subset of the Third Edition of the Sexual Health Rankings. The index uses eight indicators of sexual health drawn from the main set used in Sexual Health Rankings, Trojan noted in a media release. For its purposes, the Trojan study scored states on two main measures of sexual health: sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. Those measures include STD incidence rates, whether states have mandated sex and STD educational programs, teen birth rates and other related factors.

The indicators that earned Florida its low ranking include:

• HIV diagnoses per 100,000 residents – 33.24
• Gonorrhea cases per 100,000 residents – 107.8
• Syphilis cases per 100,000 residents – 7.8
• Percentage of adults ever tested for HIV – 42.6
• Births to mothers age 15-19 per 1,000 – 28
• Percentage of high schools teaching safe condom practices – 38.6
• State mandated sex education with contraception education included – No
• State mandated STD/HIV education with contraception education - No

Vermont, researchers say, is the model that other states should look up to.

“We hope these rankings encourage states to see where they can improve,” Martin Downs, director and principal investigator of Variance was quoted in a media release as saying. Variance conducted the study on Trojan’s behalf.

The full study report is available online.

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