Peer Educators Advocating Campus Health (PEACH) encouraged women to care for their bodies with more than 1,000 groups nationwide Wednesday at SF State for the annual Women’s Health and Fitness Day.
The celebration marked the first PEACH event of the semester, with the added participation of EROS, Safe Place/CEASE, the Village Fitness Center and The Queer and Trans Resource Center. Haley Rott, an intern for Sexual Health PEACH, organized the event with the goal to bring awareness to women’s health.
Lauren Smith hands out shirts during the National Women’s Health and Fitness Day at Malcolm X Plaza in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. Henry Perez / Xpress.
“It’s easy in college to get bogged down with schoolwork and mistrust everything, but it’s really important to take care of both your mental and physical health,” Rott said. “This event really helps to advocate for women’s control over their quality of life and lifestyle.”
The event is held annually on the last Wednesday of September as part of a country-wide celebration of women’s health with an educational purpose. Organizers stressed matters like birth control, contraceptives and breast exams — things that should be addressed more often, according to Ripe Lead and organizer Winnie Luong.
“A lot of times in our society people are looking at the fact that women are not being treated equally or don’t have fair respect,” Luong said. “With this we’re trying to bring more awareness and empower women to make choices regarding freedom of sexual health and improve their own health.”
PEACH set up three games on health issues, including emergency contraception in “The Back Up Plan.” “Match Made in Heaven,” another game, educated students on the array of birth control tools and their corresponding body parts, while “Breast Test” informed participants on self-conducted breast exams and breast cancer awareness.
Participants who played two games won a “Sexy Bag” of assorted contraceptives, information on the organization and a complimentary shirt for those who played all three games.
The PEACH program strives to bring positive health education to students at SF State. The group highlights health topics that relate to the campus community through outreach events.
“I think anything revolving around women and their rights is important on all campuses, especially at SF State,” said Ripe Lead Andryanna Sheppard. “This is one way we can do it, and we’ve got a lot of people out here.”
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