The president-elect of the American College of Surgeons has now resigned his position because of a controversy that resulted from an opinion column he wrote.

In the column, which was published for Valentine’s Day in the official newspaper of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Lazar J. Greenfield claimed that women who had unprotected sex were less likely to be depressed than women who used condoms during sex.

Greenfield is the emeritus professor of surgery at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and the now former president-elect of the American College of Surgeons. He is an authority figure for students and soon-to-be-doctors across the nation.

Some say the column was offensive to women.

Both the Women in Surgery Committee and the Association of Women Surgeons found the column to be demeaning to women. They claimed that women are less likely to try to become surgeons as it is and the column was only reinforcing that.

Does this reflect the stereotypes of the world of surgery?

To give a brief example of the language used by Greenfield, take a look at this: “So there’s a deeper bond between men and women than St. Valentine would have suspected, and now we know there’s a better gift for that day than chocolates.”

Maybe it was meant as a joke, but someone of such high authority shouldn’t be making lewd jokes about women.

And his column certainly doesn’t show respect to his female students.

Others say it was wrong because it promoted unsafe sex.

In the column, Greenfield claimed that semen has an antidepressant effect on women. As such a prominent doctor, it is as though he was recommending that women shouldn’t want to use condoms.

As a the president-elect of the American College of Surgeons, as a doctor, he should not have made claims that women would be happier if they had unsafe sex. It was a denouncement of condoms by one of the most respected surgeons in the U.S.

Now, as we all learned in our high school health classes during freshman year, condoms are kind of important when it comes to protecting yourself from STIs. OK, not just kind of important, but really, really important.

Of all the things that can result from sex, most of us could agree that getting an STI would be wanted the least.

What other contraceptive devices can you use to protect yourself from STIs? Well, there really aren’t any.

Another thing about the column that was unsettling was its target. Those women that Greenfield said were “less depressed” were women in college.

He’s sending the message, ‘Hey girls, are you feeling stressed out because of exams? Well here’s a trick to help you feel better.’

Aside from catching gonorrhea, herpes or HIV, what’s the other biggest ‘oops’ that can result from having unprotected sex? Babies.

There are several studies already in existence that show that women who are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy are at an increased risk for depression.

Having to deal with the pressures of being pregnant while a student in college isn’t something that many women choose to do.

Whether or not he meant the statements he made in his opinion column as a joke, Greenfield took things too far. With the amount of authority and respect that he has (or had), he ought to be writing columns that help his peers, not hurt them.