Condom Monologues

Tag: Condom Week

  • Yes, Condoms Deserve A Holiday Too!

    Yes, Condoms Deserve A Holiday Too!

    Forget the Valentine’s Day candies and roses. What better way to gear up for Vday romance than celebrating International Condom Day! (#ICD2015 to you, Twitter.)

    This year the AHF is changing the way we think about condoms.
    This year the AHF is changing the way we think about condoms.

    February 13th marks this holiday of awareness as a time to educate and celebrate safer sex. World, be prepared for thousands of free condom dispensaries and numerous safer sex events across 31 countries. In the US, the AHF (AIDS Health Organization) has organized 37 events in 12 states including some “hot zones” like the District of Colombia, which has the highest national rate of HIV in the country; and Mississippi and Texas, two states which have some of the strictest laws against public sex education and (by no coincidence) the highest national average of teen pregnancies.

    Indeed, there is plenty to celebrate when it comes to condoms.

    The first being that condoms are the most effective method available today that protects against both STIs and accidental pregnancy. Can’t beat that.

    Each year, the AHF curates this holiday around a theme. This year’s theme is “Coolness”; that is, “Condoms Are Cool”. Now, before you roll your eyes and think, “Not another lame, out-of-touch attempt to get youth to use condoms,” I challenge you to check out the AHF corresponding video series. They launched a trio of videos related to young people buying condoms at a local corner shop or “bodega”.

    Here is the first of the AHF’s “Bodega Nights” video series. Trust me, you have never seen a condom commercial like this one. Unlike traditional public service announcements (PSAs) that are overtly serious and fear-based, this one actually combines condoms with confidence, fun and sexiness.

    The coolness doesn’t stop there. In addition to their “Bodega Nights” video series, the AHF also released a catchy party song. It is a condom-related parody of one of today’s global hits, Pharrell Williams’s “Happy”. The hope is to renew attention of the importance of safer sex in a way that will never go out of style.

    Because I wrap it
    Put it on and get in on, if that’s what you want to do.
    Because I wrap it,
    Cause you know that you are hot, and these condoms sure are cool.
    Because I wrap it
    Wrap it, put your hands up, and let yourself be free,
    Because I wrap it
    Just love your self enough to know that protection is the key.
    – “Because I Wrap It” by Danny Fernandez

    You can listen to the song and download the lyrics for your Karaoke pleasures here.

    View more domestic and international Condom Day events here.

  • Why We Should Stop Using Fruits & Veg in SexEd

    Why We Should Stop Using Fruits & Veg in SexEd

    The banana (or cucumber) penis prop in sex education has got to go. I think it’s an outdated euphemism that helps adults (not young people) feel more comfortable talking about sexuality. Shyfully skirting topics only reinforces the mechanisms of shame around sex. It creates an environment in which certain question can’t be addressed. Hence ignorance perpetuates. At it’s core, the banana is a symbol of non-pragmatic, fear-based sex education.

    Character 'Jonah Takalua' from Summer Heights High getting schooled in sex "practicalities".
    Character ‘Jonah Takalua’ from Summer Heights High getting schooled in sex “practicalities”.

    Like so many Americans, my sex education in high school was minimal. It was covered only once in the entire four years during a single, out-of-the-blue gym class. Topics were rushed and general. Looking back, I realize how heterocentric and cis-genedered sex ed was simply by the way information was presented and what was intentionally absent. How to use a condom, however, is the most vivid lesson I remember.

    Us 14 – 15 year old boys and girls were instructed to sit on the basketball court floor and watch our gym teacher (a bleach-blond nutritionist who always wore L.L. Bean fleeces) pull out a single condom and banana from her canvas sports bag. “Now, who will volunteer to help me put this on?” She cheerfully asked us.

    Of course, no one raised their hand so she picked the student who was talking under his breath to another student. “Brad, come on up and show the class how to use a condom.”

    This was discipline.

    Brad stood in front of the class with a grin and demonstrated how to open the condom wrapper. He handed the wrapper to the teacher in exchange for the banana. Then holding fruit in one hand and latex in the other, he placed the condom over the top and vigorously struggled to pull it down the, um, shaft.

    “No no no!” blurted the gym teacher. “You’re skipping a very important step. You must make sure not to trap air in the top hat.”

    Top hat?

    Brad struggled trying to simultaneously pitch the tip and roll the condom down one-handedly. “Here, let me help you.” The teacher reached for the banana’s shaft and said, “You hold the hat while I roll,” and started to inch down the condom.

    The awkwardness and humor of it all distracted me from actually understanding how to put on a condom. If anything, it seemed far more complicated because it required more than two hands.

    How about suggesting to practice by one’s self? To masturbate with a condom? Or discuss ways partners can put condoms on together? Or ways to negotiate condom use? Or the variety of condom options that are out there?

    Practical, matter of fact approaches are much more effective at equipping young people to make informed choices.

    I think a penis or dildo model should be used instead of these foody phallics. Moreover, a dildo is great for including information about queer safer sex and toy sharing. Condom use does not only apply to penis!

    The plastic penis prop by Justin Hancock of Bish Training is a stellar example of condom instructions for the real world.

    Penis models are so less awkward.
    Penis models are so less awkward.

    Watch Bish Training’s condom use here.

    How were you taught condom usage? What props were featured in your sex education (if any!)?