Costumes teach sex awareness 

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

Students in Adama Dyonizian's human sexuality class used the Halloween costume tradition to educate others on campus by dressing up as condoms, diaphragms and sexually transmitted diseases.

In a method Dyonizian called "peerification," students dressed in costume earn extra credit for walking around campus and sharing with students what they have learned in class about sexual responsibility.

"I told the students, 'the more outrageous the costume, the more attention they will attract,'" said Dyonizian.

Dyonizian said Halloween was a perfect opportunity for the event, with October being the designated awareness month for AIDS, women's health and breast cancer. The rookie teacher uses many teaching tactics she learned working for the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services.

"If it goes well today, I may do this again next semester," Dyonizian said. "In the spring, the week of Valentine's day is also National Condom Week and April is also Sexually Transmitted Awareness month."