IS THERE A “secret war on condoms?”
UPDATE: Medpundit Sydney Smith says that claims of an anti-condom war are wildly overblown.
On the other hand, SKBubba emails:
I was flipping through the cable news channels night before last (there was a choice of Connie Chung, Phil Donohue, and Bill O’Reilly — what a lineup, eh?).
For some morbid reason, I paused on Donohue for a second, and there was this shrill frizzy air head from some outfit called “Abstinence Until Marriage” or something who goes around to Houston (?) schools teaching abstinence and promoting virginity as the hip new thing.
She said they don’t teach sex education because sex education is “sex invitation” (she said that about fifty times).
When asked about contraceptives, she said they weren’t allowed to talk about that except to say that CONDOMS DON’T WORK. It says so right there on the package. “MAY PREVENT”, the key word being “MAY”. Condoms are dangerous, shouldn’t be given away to kids, yada, yada. Abstinence is the best policy.
When asked about the fact that probably 50% of teenagers are sexually active and wasn’t her message therefore a little late for them, she really didn’t have a good response except that virginity is fashionable.
Guess we’ll see a spike in teen pregnancy and HIV and other STDs in Houston pretty soon. Nice work.
Condoms don’t work all the time, but then neither do seatbelts. But some people just don’t belong behind the wheel, belted or not. . . .
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Brian Ellenberger emails:
I just wanted to give my perspective as one of those evil “right-wing” evangelical Christians the NY Times hates so much.
A) Evangelical Christians have no fundamental problems with condoms, unlike Catholics. See Reformation–Catholics vs. Protestants. I recommend Mr. Kristof rent Monty Python’s Meaning of Life to get a basic understanding of the different views Catholics and Protestants have toward condoms.
B) Evangelical Christians DO have a problem with their kids getting liberal views forced down their throat. Liberals want to ban “Christmas Trees” because they are too Christian, but feel no qualms about forcing their beliefs on others. This battle isn’t about condoms. It is about the culture war.
C) Anyone who isn’t a virgin knows that completely avoiding any contact with bodily fluid during sex is pretty darn hard. Especially if you are going to half-way enjoy yourself. Think Naked-Gun full body condom for complete protection. Heck think foreplay. Sure the risk may be slight, but it still is a risk. And over time probability catches up with you. Not to mention simple human error. Maybe you get lazy after a while or you simply trust the person you are with too much. And your judgement isn’t exactly 100% during sex *cough* raging-hormones *cough*, especially if you have already had a drink or two.
Waiting till marriage sure has advantages. :)
Well, I’m certainly glad that I didn’t wait until marriage, especially as I didn’t get married until age 33. . . .