Most of the intermittent questions came from the men in the room, several of whom commented later that they were quite impressed with the presentation.

"What was great was showing all these things you've heard about and seen pictures of, but haven't touched. I expected to be embarrassed, but I wasn't says Francis A. Evers '87, who is from Dublin, Ireland He adds. "In Ireland, you would never see that I thought I knew a lot I didn't know anything."

Scott B. Paton '87 agrees "I don't think you can really go beyond what they've done here," he said, adding. "There are probably a lot of people who think they know things, but they really don't Some people think not knowing implies they don't deal with contraceptives, so they don't have sex so they're losers Some people just don't want to learn They're crazy, but they don't." Asked whether he would recommend the group's services to friends he says. "Definitely It would be ridiculous not to."

At the end of the session, the counselors distributed a brief evaluation form, consisting of questions such as. "Was the information presented in too much detail. Too little?" All the students completed it anonymously and the counselors said that they have received almost entirely positive responses.

The group was formed seven years ago by several women students with the help of a supervisor according to Nadja B Gould, the UHS clinical social worker who supervises the program now

"There was a feeling among women students that there weren't enough resources for women to talk to women about health, sexuality, and reproductive issues," she explains, adding. "In 1978 or '79 we started having male counselors, we're interested in having more men "She adds that usually whenever there is a man on duty there is a woman staffer with him.

Although only one of this year's eight counselors is male, there has traditionally been a closer ratio last year, four of the 12 were male.

UHS Director Dr. Warren E.C. Wacker says that the most valuable aspect of the program not only is its learning experience for counselors but also. "For consumers, there are a lot of people who are rather shy about talking about these things with adults. In some instances, they can't even know what to ask. They're less embarrassed to talk to a peer."

It was Could's idea to bring the counselors' experience to freshman dorms last year. She says she was inspired by the health educator at Dartmouth, who offered to bring Dartmouth students to Harvard to demonstrate their presentation.

"They did something called a "road show," Orza says, explaining. "Some things were in bad taste. They got into things like flipping diaphragms across the room There's such a thing as having a sense of humor, and there's such a thing as going too far."

The peer counselors have evidently given a great deal of thought to their approach as well as their tone when presenting information.

"One of the things that impressed me was their absolutely matter of fact attitude," says Senior Adviser Shaller who hosted one of the first outreach sessions last spring and who says he plans to have another one sometime this year.

"I was pretty skeptical about them last year. I didn't know what sort of thing they were going to do," he recalls adding, that the presentation was "as value neutral as any presentation of that sort could hope to be. They were so matter-of-fact that anyone would have felt absolutely stupid trying to cut up during it."

Shaller also says the relaxed atmosphere of study breaks is helpful for these discussions. "With a group it takes pressure or inertia away from people who would otherwise have to go themselves. It takes a lot more admission of some thing to haul yourself up to the third floor of UHS than just going to these meetings, where you can pretend you just want cookies"

Although no counseling experience is necessary for potential advisors, the selection process is thorough A prospective counselor first has to meet at least two other counselors, who may then recommend him or her to Gould, who interviews all candidates "You just have to be a good listener, be willing to learn, care about the issues and be non judgmental." Gould explains Counselor Rebecca A. Schliefter '84 agrees, saying. "Ninety-five percent of it is just genuine interest