It Must Be Big Under Those Kilts!

UNITED KINGDOM - Fellas in Glasgow buy more extra-large condoms than anywhere else in the UK, store chiefs revealed yesterday.
In a big boost for Scotland's largest city, known for its hardmen, Tesco bosses reckon blokes have been snapping up the new supersize Durex.
The supermarket giant brought in the XL brand last month due to a surge in customer demand.
And last night a spokeswoman said sales in Glasgow were up 25 per cent week on week. Normal condoms have an average length of 8ins (205mm).
But the new ones stretch to 8½ins (215mm) - and are 1mm wider.
Tesco Healthcare buyer Nicola Evans said: "Demand has been a success, especially north of the border in Scotland.
"In the last year there has been a very strong demand for a larger sized condom and the sales prove that there is a market for them in the UK."
But women shoppers at TescoEXTRA in Springburn, Glasgow, were not so sure. . .
Customer support operator Lynne Scally, 29, said: "I wouldn't say the men of Glasgow are needing them. Not in my experience anyway!"
Council worker Becky Edmunds, 29, on Port Dundas, reckoned sales were fuelled by men on an ego trip.
She said: "I can safely say I've never encountered a man who needed one.
"I reckon they might be buying them to put on their bathroom shelves to show off."
But recruitment consultant Eliza Franceschi, 25, of Glasgow, said: "If it's true then maybe they should set up dating agencies nearby Tesco stores - I might hang about a for a bit as well."
Local cabbie Ronnie Mills, 59, insisted it was time well-endowed men were catered for.
He bragged: "I've actually been asking Tesco to bring them in for a while now."
Other cities in the sales Top 10 included Edinburgh - in seventh - Manchester and Cardiff.
from The Scottish Sun

Related Post: Durex Launches Extra Large Condoms

Condom Olympics Not Liked By All

Miss Universe Australia Rachael Finch did not walk away with the Miss Universe crown last week in the Bahamas (she took fourth place), but her condom stunt has raised some criticism and awareness.
Finch took part in the 'Condom Olympics,' a Miss Universe event, approved by Donald Trump, that was held to raise AIDS and HIV awareness. The pageant teamed up with AIDS prevention group Population Services International (PSI) for the event.
In the "Condom Olympics" pageant contestants participated in games such as testing the condom limits by blowing them up until they burst, filling them with water and learning how to conduct condom demonstrations correctly. Finch inflated a condom with her breath until it burst and won the challenge. But some questioned whether the event raised any awareness, and questioned why abstinence was not highlighted.
"These 'Condom Olympics' seem quite counterproductive to raising awareness of the seriousness of HIV," said Alyssa Cardova, from the Claire Booth Luce Policy Institute, a conservative women’s organization, to CNSNews .
Cordova also took offense at the lack of an abstinence message. "Playing right into our culture’s obsession with political correctness, the Miss Universe organization downplays the only thing that prevents the spread and contraction of HIV that is 100 percent effective - abstinence - and perpetuates the lie that if you use a condom everything will be ok,"she told FOXnews.com .
Marshall Stowell, communications director at PSI, defended the games and said, "The point of all of those games is to teach the participants, whether they be youth or Miss Universe contestants, the proper technique for using a condom, because part of HIV prevention is correct and consistent condom use."
In July Finch made other news in Australia when a crocodile lunged at her while she was visiting an animal park. "As soon as I saw him move I got nervous," Finch told the Northern Territory News.
Stefania Fernandez, Miss Venezuela, was crowned Miss Universe 2009 last week in Nassau, Bahamas. The broadcast featured a performance by reality star-turned-pop-wannabe Heidi Montag performing her first single "Body Language." Also see a slideshow of the swimsuit competition .
from Fox56 Wolf

Durex Launches Extra Large Condoms

UNITED KINGDOM - Tesco condoms - every little helps!
A supermarket giant is to cater for well-endowed men by stocking extra large condoms.
The new condoms - which are 10mm longer than the average 205mm version and 1mm wider - will go on sale in Tesco branches across the UK from Wednesday.
A store spokeswoman said the launch of the Durex Extra Large range follows "overwhelming consumer demand".
Healthcare buyer Nicola Evans added: "These new condoms are designed to allow larger men more comfort than ever before.
"We know through customer research that there has been a growing demand for an extra large condom that is easily available in high street pharmacies.
"In the last year there have been more than 200 calls from customers requesting the availability of an extra large condom."
The most popular ranges of condoms at the supermarket are currently Durex Fetherlite and Durex Extra Safe.
Durex Extra Large condoms will cost £9.53 for a packet of 12 and will be sold exclusively at 400 Tesco stores.
from Press Association

Petition Urges CVS To Unlock Condoms In Stores Nationwide

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS - Physician Sharon Lee knows the embarrassment of buying condoms.
“I used to buy condoms myself, and it’s not an easy thing to do,” said Lee, director of Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care in Kansas City, Kan.
A drugstore can make that task more difficult if it places them in a locked case, forcing customers to ask for help. Extra embarrassment can lead to something worse than blushing cheeks or nervous sweat — it may discourage people from using condoms to protect themselves from HIV or other dangers, Lee said.
That thought worries the Rev. Eric Williams, too. That’s why his Calvary Community Outreach Network in Kansas City signed a national petition asking the CVS Caremark Corp. to unlock condoms in all CVS pharmacy stores.
Nationwide, more than 200 groups have signed on, including the Douglas County AIDS Project in Lawrence.
The petition, sponsored by the labor coalition Change to Win, said CVS stores tended to lock up condoms, especially in low-income neighborhoods with high numbers of minorities. This worries Williams, considering the higher rate of African-Americans with new HIV infections.
CVS said locking up condoms was a defense against shoplifters in stores where large numbers of condoms were stolen.
Williams said his group, a nonprofit arm of Calvary Temple Baptist Church, signed the petition because it wanted to do whatever was possible to stop the spread of HIV.
“When the house is on fire, you do everything you can to put the fire out,” Williams said.
The Kansas City Star visited 19 CVS stores across the Kansas City area and found that nine kept condoms locked away. Most packages of condoms in the locked cases were 12-packs costing $9 to $12.
In census tracts where CVS stores locked up condoms, an average of 25.9 percent of the population was below the poverty level, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. In tracts where the stores kept condoms unlocked, the poverty rate was 8 percent. (Across the country in 2000, the poverty rate was 9.2 percent.)
Nine of the stores were in census tracts with African-American populations higher than 12.3 percent, the U.S. average in 2000. All but one of them had locked-up condoms.
African-Americans account for about half of the people infected with HIV and AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Williams pointed to other CDC findings that showed black women made up an especially large percentage of women with HIV and AIDS — 64 percent in 2005. Trends like that, he said, are why the church supports access to condoms as a barrier to HIV infection, even while upholding the ideal of abstinence until marriage.
“Let’s try to do everything we can to make sure our children, our wives, our grandmothers are safe,” Williams said.
One way to do this, he said, is for retailers to keep condoms out of locked boxes.
Mike DeAngelis, a CVS spokesman, said stores provided smaller, unlocked displays of packs with three condoms each, compared with boxes of 12 or more in the locked cases.
The Star found the smaller displays in all but two of the area stores with locked cases.
DeAngelis also said the group behind the condom petition, Change to Win, was mounting a smear campaign against CVS because of a labor dispute. Change to Win, which represents about 8,000 CVS employees, also has accused the company of overcharging customers and stocking expired merchandise.
Walgreens, CVS’ chief competitor among drugstore chains, said its corporate policy prohibited locking up condoms.
The Star checked Walgreens stores and found that, for the most part, they were abiding by that policy. The one exception: Some Walgreens keep one line of condoms — Trojan Magnums — under lock and key.
Lee, the Kansas City, Kan., physician, said she thought locking up condoms was a poor decision for a company’s image, as well as for the nation’s health. Any barrier to the use of condoms could lead to an increase in HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, she said.
“We should, as a nation, be doing whatever we can to prevent further transmission, and this just sounds like a bad idea,” Lee said.
In her clinic, Lee sees about 600 patients infected with HIV.
Local agencies give away free condoms, including the Kansas City Health Department, the Kansas City Free Health Clinic and the Good Samaritan Project, a Kansas City organization that helps people infected with HIV and AIDS.
from The Kansas City Star

Gay Men Sexually Abused In Childhood More Likely To Have Risky Sex

An experience of sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence is associated with an increased risk of gay men becoming HIV-positive in adult life, American researchers report in the July 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The research also showed that men with a history of sexual abuse in early life had higher levels of depression and problematic drug and alcohol use, as well as being less receptive to HIV prevention interventions.
“This is the first study…to demonstrate a predictive relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse among HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men,” comment the investigators.
Earlier research has shown that gay and other men who have sex with men are more likely to report a history of childhood sexual abuse than heterosexual men. Other studies have also shown that a history of childhood sexual abuse is associated with sexual risk-taking by adult gay men. There are also data demonstrating a relationship between the experience of sexual abuse as a child and depression and other mental health problems in adult life, as well as poor social skills and drug and alcohol use.
Studies have also demonstrated that that gay men with a history of abuse have higher rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. But this research has been limited in its generalisability by its cross-sectional design.
Investigators from the EXPLORE study, a prospective study into the effectiveness of behavioural intervention to reduce HIV risk amongst gay men, therefore examined the association between a history of childhood sexual abuse and the risk of becoming infected with HIV. The researchers also explored the relationship between childhood abuse and unprotected anal sex. The mediating role of mental health problems, poor social skills and drug and alcohol use between abuse and infection with HIV or risky sex were also explored.
The study lasted for four years and included a total of 4244 men. These men were recruited to the study in six US cities. All had recently had anal sex with another man, and all the men were HIV-negative at baseline. The men were randomised to receive a behavioural HIV prevention intervention or standard HIV prevention counselling. Every six months they were tested for HIV and provided details about their recent sexual behaviour.
To ascertain if an individual had a history of childhood sexual abuse they were asked on entry to the study to say if they had had a sexual experience before the age of 13 with an individual five years or more older than themselves; and/or if they had a sexual experience between the ages of 13 and 17 with an individual who was ten or more years older.
Of the 4244 individuals in the study, 1686 (40%) reported childhood sexual abuse. There were 258 HIV infections during the course of the study, a rate of 2.1 per 100 person years.
The HIV incidence rate differed according to abuse history. It was 1.8 per 100 person years for men with no such history, but 2.5 per 100 person years for men reporting childhood sexual abuse.
Individuals who reported having experienced childhood sexual abuse had an increased risk of HIV infection compared to those with no such history (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.02-1.69).
Results of the full study showed that the behavioural intervention modestly reduced the risk of HIV infection. This was not, however, the case for men reporting childhood sexual abuse. Men who received the intervention (AHR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.74-1.52), as well as those who were provided with standard safer sex counselling information (AHR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.04-1.95) had an increased risk of acquiring HIV infection.
A significant relationship also existed between childhood sexual abuse and the reporting of unprotected anal sex, including unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man.
Evidence was also found showing that mental health problems, poor coping and communication skills, and the use of drugs and alcohol (all p < 0.001) were significant in the relationship between childhood sexual abuse, risky sex, and subsequent infection with HIV. “HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men with childhood sexual abuse histories are at a greater risk of HIV infection, report higher rates of HIV sexual risk behaviour, and derive less benefit from prevention programmes”, conclude the investigators. They suggest that the “efficacy of HIV prevention initiatives may be enhanced by incorporating treatment components designed to address the specific mental health concerns [of those] with a history of childhood sexual abuse.” Aware of the sensitive political nature of their research, the investigators emphasise, “despite the high rates of childhood sexual abuse in the sample, these data do not suggest anything casual regarding the association of abuse and later homosexuality…the majority of men in EXPLORE did not report any type of childhood sexual abuse, so there is little to suggest that childhood sexual abuse ‘causes’ homosexuality, but rather, childhood sexual abuse makes men who have sex with men more likely to engage in HIV risk behaviours.”
from Aidsmap

Sheriff Considers Expanding Condom Distribution In Jail

LOS ANGELES - Inmates call Ron Osorio "West Hollywood" because the words are printed on the cream-colored cloth bag he carries inside Men's Central Jail each Friday.
The bag is filled with 300 Lifestyle condoms. Osorio, who works for the nonprofit Center for Health Justice, has been visiting the jail almost weekly since 2001, when Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca approved a small but groundbreaking program that allowed the health group to pass out prophylactics to inmates in a segregated unit for gay men.
"We go to the dorms and a guy hands out the bagged lunches. There's another guy that hands out the juice. . . . and I stand between those two as they go through the line. They get their lunch, they get a condom, and they get their juice," Osorio said.
Not all inmates take condoms, but Osorio talks to those who do about the risks of HIV/AIDS.
He tells them that, despite what he's handing them, it's forbidden to have sex in jail.
Osorio has distributed more than 43,655 condoms to inmates since the project began, but said that is not nearly enough.
The transfer rate of HIV/AIDS in jail continues to be high, he said, and the public is at risk because once released, inmates carry the diseases back to their communities.
Eight years after Baca first approved the program, the sheriff is pondering whether to expand it by doubling the number of condoms distributed to the 300 inmates within the segregated unit.
His decision comes as a yearlong pilot condom distribution program at the California State Prison at Solano enters its eighth month.
Health advocates say that a successful review of that program could lead to widespread distribution of condoms in prisons throughout the state.
It would be one of the most aggressive measures in the nation's jails and prisons to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, experts say.
Sheriff's officials acknowledge that the virus is a prominent problem in the jails.
They spend about $2 million each year in federally refundable money on HIV/AIDS medication and identify about 65 new cases each month.
On average there are about 1,400 people in L.A. County jails with HIV each year, said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department.
'There's a paradox'
Osorio, who was incarcerated for 19 months beginning in 1999, said that consensual sex in prisons is common.
He said inmates often go to extreme and unsafe lengths for protection, using plastic wrap from their sandwiches, rubber gloves and empty candy wrappers during sex.
"One condom per week is not enough," Osorio said. "To believe they're doing it one time, come on."
According to a United Nations report published last year on HIV and AIDS in places of detention, about 1.9% of prisoners in the United States are known to be HIV-positive.
The report also says the issue is international and calls for more education, efforts to reduce the supply of drugs in institutions, and condom distribution as a way to combat the diseases.
Currently, only a few jails in the United States -- including some in San Francisco, New York City, Philadelphia andWashington, D.C. -- offer condoms to inmates. Condoms are also available in prisons in Vermont.
Providing condoms to inmates seems like a "no-brainer," said Mary Sylla, who founded the Center for Health Justice, a nonprofit organization based in West Hollywood that focuses on reducing HIV cases in prisons.
She said that when condoms are offered, inmates do take them and reports of unsafe sexual activity decline.
Despite calls by health groups, most efforts to expand distribution have stalled, and state bills -- including one in California -- that could have led to widespread distribution of the prophylactics have been continuously voted down, died in committee or were vetoed.
Distributing condoms in jails is often a taboo issue, and authorities say they must balance the public health issue with their pledge to uphold the law.
"Sex in jails is against the law, but there is a public health issue that needs to be considered," Whitmore said. "There's a paradox here."
Some prison officials worry that inmates will use the condoms to attack prison guards by filling condoms with urine or feces and throwing them at guards in what is known as "gassing."
Richard L. Tatum, state president of the California Correctional Supervisors Organization, said his group opposes condom distribution programs in jails and prisons because inmates could use them to smuggle drugs and other contraband.
He said the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases within incarcerated populations is a problem, not only because of sex but also because of tattooing and other activities.
He said educational programs, not condoms, are the answer.
But Whitmore said the condom giveaways have not proved to be a problem in Men's Central.
Few problems
At the prison in Solano, where condoms are dispensed in a type of vending machine available to the general prison population, few problems have been reported, Sylla said.
"No place that has instituted condom distribution has then revoked it because of problems," said Nina Harawa, an assistant professor at Charles Drew University in South Los Angeles who researches HIV/AIDS in incarcerated populations.
Harawa said condoms are provided to prisoners in parts of Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and South Africa.
She said that the program at Men's Central "is an ideal example of how this can work successfully in the United States."
For Osorio, who is HIV-positive, the issue is personal.
He said he makes the trek to Men's Central Jail every Friday because condoms can save lives and money.
"How much money are we saving the state if we can keep one person from being infected?" he said.
"When they're in the jail system, you and I are paying for it," Osorio said. "That's what we need to understand."
from The Los Angeles Times

Men Just Hate Condoms

WASHINGTON D.C. - The federal government has spent nearly half a million dollars to fund a study to find out why some men would prefer not to wear condoms during sex.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a $423,500 grant to researchers at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.
The Bloomington, Ind., based research team will use the funding to study "barriers to correct condom use," according to a release from the institute.
"This project aims to advance our understanding of, among other factors, the role of cognitive and affective processes and condom application skills in explaining problems with condom use in young, heterosexual adult men," reads an excerpt of the study, which will be funded through May 2011.
But critics aren't so sure that this is the way the government should be spending taxpayer dollars.
One of those people is Jazz Shaw, the assistant editor for the news blog Themoderatevoice.com, who says that if the researchers really wanted to know why guys don't like wearing condoms, they should have just asked the average guy.
"Government at all levels leaves itself open to ridicule by not thinking these things through," Shaw said in an e-mail to ABCNews.com. "Men don't enjoy wearing condoms and we already know this."
"If what the NIH actually plans to study is condom failure rates or design deficiencies leading to difficulty in using the product, they should name the study appropriately and focus on those areas," Shaw said.
Repeated calls and messages to the NIH left by ABCNews.com were not immediately returned, but according to its Web site, it provides more than $30 billion for research every year, making the funding for this study a mere pittance in comparison to the larger picture.
The two leaders of the study, scientists Erick Janssen and Stephanie Sanders, also did not respond to requests for comment.
Asked to elaborate on why, exactly, men often put up a fight when they're asked to wear a condom, Shaw said the feeling experienced during intercourse is altered -- and not for the better -- by the condom.
"The physical sensation is simply not the same," Shaw said.
"Also, it's an interruption when a couple is in the 'heat of the moment' where you have to change focus to something decidedly unromantic," he said. "[It's] pretty much the same as if the woman, at the same juncture, needs to jump up, run to the bathroom and insert a diaphragm. It breaks the mood.
"Men wear them because they are slightly more desirable than a combination of embarrassing diseases, 20 years of child support payments and death," Shaw said. "And if you took the death part out of the equation, a frightening number of us would probably still roll the dice on it if the lady was willing."
The project will be split up into two phases, the first to be focused on asking men about "various issues of arousal and sensation, including physical experience and perceptions about condoms," according to the institutes release on the study.
The second phase will be more laboratory oriented and will focus on "penile erection and sensitivity during condom application."
One of the main goals of the study is to understand the link between condom application and the loss of erections and decreased sensation experienced by men.
David Williams, the vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, a non-profit watchdog group that tracks mismanagement and wasteful spending by the government, said that he is "frustrated" by the grant.
"It's hard to see this kind of research going on when we have such bigger problems as a country that we need to face," Williams said. "The NIH is studying things that on the face of it sounds like it isn't really needed right now or that the answers are pretty obvious at times."
Williams concedes that while the amount of money given to this project is a "drop in the bucket" compared to the total amount of monetary support the NIH doles out each year, he says that cutting back on several projects like this one could go a long way.
"There needs to be more scrutiny over what is and is not funded," he said.
"People don't seem to think the government has priorities and this grant is really just another example of that," Williams said. "We're all trying to make ends meet here and the government is doing a study on condom use."
from ABC News

Indian Brothers Seduce Brits With Vegetarian Condoms

LONDON - Indian-born businessmen Shandip and Ketan Shah are scoring it big in Britain with a new vegetarian condom that has proved to be a runaway success with health stores.
The brothers' Fusion condoms are manufactured without any milk-based casein - unlike other brands - and have now been officially registered with Britain's Vegan Society.
All new Fusion condoms packets will carry the official vegan logo - a move that the Shahs hope will persuade more British youngsters to use condoms.
'Vegetarians and Vegans might not have realised that there is a milk extract in most condoms. Fusion condoms want to help this group make an informed choice about safe sex,' said Shandip Shah, managing director of Fusion Condoms.
'New figures show teenage pregnancies are yet again on the rise. We believe contraceptives must be made more widely available to break this trend - which is why Fusion condoms are targeting fashion shops, budget shops, health food shops as well as just chemists,' Shah told IANS.
The brothers, who run a pharmacy in Baker Street, London, said 30 health food stores have already placed orders to stock Fusion condoms as a result of their new vegan status. With many more placing orders it is the first concerted drive by a condom brand to establish vegan-friendly condom sales in health food outlets.
One of London's biggest Indian grocery outlets, Dhamecha Cash and Carry, has also agreed to stock Fusion condoms in all five of their depots.
Britain is home to three million vegetarians and 180,000 vegans - strict vegetarians who don't eat any dairy products - a substantial proportion of the British population.
And with their numbers increasing, particularly among young people, both health food shops and budget shops have begun to diversify their products range to offer customers a one-stop shop.
John Krahn, a director at the Haelan Centre health food shop chain, said: 'Because we have a large vegetarian client base and work a lot with vegan groups, I think it's very important that we are able to stock vegan condoms.
'We aim to be a one-stop shop for our customers, and the reality is that there's a lot of need for condoms. We want to make sure our customers can buy one that meets their ethical criteria.'
Fusion condoms are also designed for more environmentally aware customers, which again often means young people - the condoms are wrapped without the use of cellophane and have their instructions printed on the reverse of the cardboard packaging, eliminating the need for surplus paper inserts.
from Indo-Asian News Service

India Looking For "Mr Condom"

NEW DELHI - India, struggling to promote greater condom use among its population, is looking to hire its own "condom man" to follow the example of a former Thai cabinet minister who successfully pushed for safer sex.
National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) chief Sujatha Rao said that India needed to find someone like Mechai Viravaidya, famous for getting Thais to talk about sex, condoms and AIDS.
"We are serious about finding India's very own Mr Condom," Rao was quoted as saying after visiting Thailand to study its dramatic increase in condom us+ over the past decade, which contributed to a sharp fall in new HIV infections.
"He has to feel passionately about the cause as Mechai does ... have a dynamic personality to change both government policy and public perceptions about HIV/AIDS, sex and condoms," Rao was quoted in The Times of India as saying.
Mechai became famous in Thailand as the "Condom King" for actions such as taking condoms to World Bank talks as well as for the name of his Bangkok restaurant "Cabbages and Condoms," where condoms are a major part of the decor.
Authorities in India, where many people are hesitant to talk about sex and condoms openly, are trying to push condom use through television, radio and newspapers and by targeting high-risk groups.
India has millions of people who are HIV-positive and many of them face discrimination and prejudice. The government plans to announce a new $2.8-billion plan next month to fight HIV, heavily focusing on promotion of condoms.
Britain's Department for International Development said on Friday it would provide 102 million pounds for the five-year plan, doubling its funding despite a new survey indicating India's HIV caseload of 5.7 million -- the world's largest -- could be a big overestimate.
Total donations are expected to touch about $900 million (450 million pounds), including from the World Bank and USAID.
In Thailand, Viravaidya's organisation -- the Population and Community Development Association of Thailand -- won the $1 million Gates Award for Global Health this year that is awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
from Reuters

CBS And Fox Reject s Condom Pig Ad

In a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men’s room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly.
Directed by Phil Joanou (“State of Grace”), with special effects by the Stan Winston Studio (“Jurassic Park”), the commercial is entertaining. But it also has a message, spelled out at the end: “Evolve. Use a condom every time.”
“We have to change the perception that carrying a condom for women or men is a sign they’re on the prowl and just want to have sex,” said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive of the Kaplan Thaler Group, the New York advertising agency that created the “Evolve” campaign. “It’s a sign of somebody being prepared — if the opportunity arises — to think about their own health and the health and safety of their partner.”
But the pigs did not fly at two of the four networks where Trojan tried to place the ad.
Fox and CBS both rejected the commercial. Both had accepted Trojan’s previous campaign, which urged condom use because of the possibility that a partner might be H.I.V.-positive, perhaps unknowingly. A 2001 report about condom advertising by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that, “Some networks draw a strong line between messages about disease prevention — which may be allowed — and those about pregnancy prevention, which may be considered controversial for religious and moral reasons.”
Representatives for both Fox and CBS confirmed that they had refused the ads, but declined to comment further.
In a written response to Trojan, though, Fox said that it had rejected the spot because, “Contraceptive advertising must stress health-related uses rather than the prevention of pregnancy.”
In its rejection, CBS wrote, “while we understand and appreciate the humor of this creative, we do not find it appropriate for our network even with late-night-only restrictions.”
“It’s so hypocritical for any network in this culture to go all puritanical on the subject of condom use when their programming is so salacious,” said Mark Crispin Miller, a media critic who teaches at New York University. “I mean, let’s get real here. Fox and CBS and all of them are in the business of nonstop soft porn, but God forbid we should use a condom in the pursuit of sexual pleasure.”
from The New York Times

You Can Get Free Condoms Just About Anywhere

NEW ZEALAND - It's called a happy meal. But the grandparents of a Wellington girl are less than pleased that the trademark toy that came with her McDonald's meal was more suited to an adult: a condom.
Seven-year-old Maia Whitaker's grandparents, Suzanne and Rowan Hatch, made the discovery on Tuesday night when they dropped in to the Courtenay Central outlet of the fast food chain as a pre-theatre treat for the girl.
Mr Hatch said it was fortunate that his wife was first to look in the small sports bag which came with the meal.
She was aghast when she found the green Durex condom and its packet.
"I was pretty horrified really. The fact my granddaughter was going to look in the bag and find this thing. It would be difficult to explain, she's only seven."
Pressed for time, Mr Hatch rushed to the counter and demanded to see the manager.
The bag was swapped for a hamburger and a pencil case, and McDonald's is investigating the find.
Mr Hatch said the discovery was bizarre, though his daughter, Maia's mother, Louise Whitaker of Seatoun, found the incident more disturbing.
"I was disgusted. It was (in a gift) with a happy meal aimed at children, not something for adults."
McDonald's spokeswoman Joanna Redfern-Hardisty said she understood the family's unhappiness.
Inquiries had revealed that, because of the popularity of the previous happy meal gift which had sold out at that outlet, pre-packaged sports bags were substituted as children's gifts.
One was left unsealed for display purposes and "somehow" it had ended up with the customer.
The bag was being sent to McDonald's head office for further investigations, while the area manager, Courtenay Central McDonald's outlet owner and the restaurant manager were "looking into" how the condom ended up in the bag.
from Stuff

It's The Closest She'll Ever Come To A Condom

UNITED KINGDOM - Horrified Michelle Lewis was violently ill after she bit into a Tesco cheese sandwich and found a condom inside.
The single office worker from Milton Keynes, Bucks, has contacted her doctor for tests after fearing she may have contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
The 28-year-old said she was disgusted when she bit into the £1.30 ploughman's sandwich and chomped down onto the unwrapped prophylactic which was hidden between the lettuce and tomato.
She was instantly sick and concerned colleagues contacted Tesco to complain.
Michelle said last night: "I bought the sandwich from the petrol station shop for my lunch while I was filling up my car.
I started to eat it while sitting at my desk. I had taken one bite out of the corner, which was fine.
When I took the second bite I felt something rubbery in my mouth. I ran to the sink and the condom was hanging out of the sandwich. I threw up in the toilet straight away.
"It is a disgusting and vile thing to put in a sandwich. If this was somebody's idea of a practical joke at the factory they are clearly very sick minded. This is the most disgusting thing that has ever happened to me.
"This has put me off buying prepacked sandwiches for life. I shall bring my own in from on." The vegetarian sandwich, which claims to contain 'no artificial flavours', was in a sealed package when Michelle purchased it at the Tesco store Buckingham.
The condom, which did not appear to be used, was unwrapped from its foil covering and covered in Branston pickle.
Michelle, who works as a training assessor for Protocol Skills in Milton Keynes, contacted Environmental Services to take away the soiled sandwich.
She said: "My complaint to Tesco has been ignored. I just want someone to take it seriously but instead I had a manager telling me there was nothing they could do and it was just something that happened.
I was outraged by their attitude.
"Tesco is the largest grocery store in Britain and this sort of thing shouldn't happen." A spokesman for Tesco's store said: "We can't imagine how something like this would happen, but we will be carrying out an investigation with our supplier. We would like to apologise."
from MK News

Using Condoms As Gum: Video

The Dangers Of Using Fruit Flavored Condoms: Video

States Abstain From Federal Sex-Ed Funds

In an emerging revolt against abstinence-only sex education, states are turning down millions of dollars in federal grants, unwilling to accept White House dictates that the money be used for classes focused almost exclusively on teaching chastity.
In Ohio, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland said that regardless of the state's sluggish economic picture, he didn't see the point in taking part in the controversial State Abstinence Education Program anymore.
Five other states — Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Montana and New Jersey — have dropped out of that grant program or plan to do so by the end of this year. California has refused all along to participate in the program, which is managed by a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Strickland, like most of the other governors who are pulling the plug on the funding, said the program had too many rules to be practical. Among other things, the money cannot be used to promote condom or contraceptive use. Students are to be taught that bearing children outside wedlock is likely to harm society and that sexual activity outside marriage is "likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects."
And, according to the governor's spokesman, Keith Dailey, Strickland sees little evidence that the program has been effective. "We've spent millions of dollars on such education since Ohio first started getting grant money in 1998," Dailey said. "If the state is going to spend money on teaching and protecting kids, the governor believes it's better to spend it in a smarter, more comprehensive approach."
Strickland announced Ohio's withdrawal from the program last month.
That states are walking away from such funding alarms abstinence-only groups, who say dozens of nonprofit sex education groups will have to close, undermining progress against teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
States have used the money to help public and private schools with educational programs, to develop classroom instruction for nonprofits, and to pay for advertising and other media campaigns.
"There are kids who don't want to know how to put on a condom, because they don't want to have sex," said Leslee J. Unruh, founder and president of the South Dakota-based Abstinence Clearinghouse, the nation's largest network of abstinence educators. "So why can't kids who want to abstain have equal time, funding and education in the classroom as kids who are having sex?"
To critics of abstinence-based education, the policy shift addresses growing concerns that sexually active youth aren't getting access to medically accurate information about contraceptives and disease prevention.
In an Oct. 3 report that surveyed abstinence programs in 10 states, the Government Accountability Office concluded that such programs were not proved to work, and at times contained inaccuracies about condoms and AIDS.
In the report, one state official described an instance in which educational materials "incorrectly suggested that HIV can pass through condoms because the latex used in condoms is porous." The official also showed that the state had "had to correct a statement indicating that when a person is infected with the human papillomavirus, the virus is 'present for life' because, in almost all cases, this is untrue," the report said.
"Just saying no is not working," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, which advocates comprehensive sex education, including contraceptive information. "These are efforts by the federal government to fund ideological programs, not healthcare or medical programs."
White House support for the grants — which are sometimes called Title V grants, for the portion of the Social Security Act under which they were established — remains strong.
In a federal budget that is tight for nearly everything but entitlements, domestic security, and the military efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush has asked Congress to carve out $191 million for the abstinence program in fiscal 2008 — an increase of $28 million over current funding.
From 1995 to 2002, teen pregnancy rates dropped 24%, according to a study by Columbia University and the Guttmacher Institute. The report, published in the American Journal of Public Health in January, attributed 14% of the decline to teens waiting longer to have sex, and the rest to contraception.
Federal officials hope to prevent other states from dropping out of the Title V program. Late last month, a memo by the Family and Youth Services Bureau at the Administration for Children and Families clarified that although state agencies could only use Title V grants for abstinence-based programs, those programs could be part of a broader curriculum that includes contraception education.
"This is not an either-or-situation," said Harry Wilson, the associate commissioner of the bureau, which manages the program.
William Smith, vice president of public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, called the memo "an utterly desperate and disingenuous response to a crumbling program. The language is clear: If you get this money from the government, you teach only one thing: abstinence."
Though most states publicly say they will continue to apply for the grants, a growing number are said to be privately considering giving up the aid — or trying to find ways to fund a broader curriculum.
In Colorado, state senators last week passed a measure that would force school districts to incorporate science-based material in their sex education courses. Districts could still teach abstinence, but they would also have to include information on such topics as the benefits and possible medical effects of different types of contraception.
Smith said: "The question state leaders are starting to ask is, 'How much of this is really about teaching kids, and how much of this is simply pushing forward a social policy favored by President Bush and the conservative right?' "
Title V grants emerged out of the 1996 overhaul of welfare programs, after Congress determined that abstinence programs should focus solely on the social, psychological and physical health benefits of chastity.
Initially, there was a public and political uproar when Congress set aside $50 million a year for states to build abstinence education programs. But when the money became available in fiscal 1998, most states had their hands out.
Not in California. State lawmakers determined that the state's abstinence-only program had not been effective.
"We realized that we should be teaching abstinence but we shouldn't withhold other information," said U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who was a state legislator at the time. Lee is part of a congressional bipartisan effort that recently reintroduced a bill to help pay for sex education that teaches abstinence and contraception.
Indeed, how states can use the Title V money, which they are required to match with $3 for every $4 received, has long been a heated issue.
Health and Human Services endured enormous criticism by governors last year after it issued a document underscoring and clarifying key rules for states that took federal abstinence grants. Among the points that unsettled some state officials: Applicants "must not" promote contraceptive or condom use, nor even "refer to abstinence as a form of contraception."
In the months that followed, states started to turn away from the program. In October, New Jersey said it would do without the $800,000 it had been receiving. Wisconsin followed in March, when Democratic Gov. James Doyle said the state would no longer accept nearly $600,000.
"When we got that first memo, that did it for us," said Stephanie Marquis, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Health and Family Services Department. "How can we do our best to teach the teens that are sexually active if our hands are tied?"
The rejection of the funds came as a blow to the nonprofit Center for Self-Sufficiency in suburban Milwaukee. It runs abstinence classes in schools and church groups statewide, as well as supporting efforts in New Jersey, Maryland and New York. Doyle's decision means the center will lose at least 20% of its annual $2.3-million budget, said its chief executive, Angela Turner.
"This whole debate has been hijacked by politics," Turner said. "Everyone's arguing, but everyone seems to forget that we all agree on one thing: Youth need to be educated about sex."
from The Los Angeles Times

I Wish I had A Condom: Video

Condom Mishaps Common Among Young Men

NEW YORK - Many young men could use a bit more instruction on proper condom use, according to lead author of a new study that found nearly one in three experienced recent condom breakage.
"We give condoms away all the time, and unfortunately that's often all that we do," Dr. R. A. Crosby of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, told Reuters Health. "I think it's important to take men beyond consistent use when we make attempts to intervene, and promote the correct use as well."
Crosby and his colleagues interviewed 278 men between the ages of 18 and 35 years old attending a public sexually transmitted infection clinic to understand how frequently and why condom breakage occurs. All of the men reported using a condom during intercourse at least three times in the previous three months.
Thirty-one percent reported at least one recent instance of condom breakage. Men who previously had a sexually transmitted infection were twice as likely to report condom breakage, while men who reported problems with condom slippage were nearly three times as likely to have problems with condom breakage. Those who said they didn't feel confident with their ability to use condoms were also more likely to have experienced condom breakage.
Other risk factors were allowing condoms to contact a sharp object, having problems with the "fit and feel" of condoms, not squeezing air from the condom's receptacle tip. Each of these three factors increased the risk of condom breakage by about two-fold.
The findings show that identifying men who need more information on how to use a condom could be as simple as asking them if they have problems with condom breakage or slippage, have had an sexually transmitted infection in the past, or don't feel confident about using condoms, Crosby noted.
Men should also be instructed to avoid letting teeth, nails or other sharp objects to come in contact with a condom, he added, and should never use scissors to open a package.
He added that sexually transmitted disease clinics should ideally provide a range of sizes and brands of condoms to their clients, so men can find the best fit.
from Reuters

Hotels With No Condoms Get Fined

BEIJING - A Chinese province has taken the unusual step of fining hotels and bars more than $600 if they do not provide condoms, part of efforts to fight the spread of AIDS, a newspaper said on Friday.
The booming eastern province of Zhejiang, with 1,859 recorded infections by the end of last year, started enforcing the rules on Thursday, the Beijing News said.
"Condoms or condom-vending machines must be placed in hotels, bars and designated public places, or the managers will be fined 5,000 yuan ($650)," the report said.
The Chinese government originally stigmatized AIDS as a disease of the decadent, capitalist West -- a problem of gays, sex workers and drug users. Traditionally, none of these officially existed in communist China.
It has belatedly woken up to the problem, and health experts have warned the virus is now moving into the general population.
But a lack of sex education and unwillingness to talk about sex still hampers the fight, health experts say.
from Reuters

Catholics Attack NYC's Free Condoms

NEW YORK - New York's top Catholic leaders on Thursday sharply criticized the city for "blanketing our neighborhoods with condoms," saying city officials were promoting promiscuity and degrading society by distributing subway-themed condoms.
The city launched the new official condoms on Valentine's Day with volunteers handing out free samples throughout the city, including on a street corner near St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan.
The plan, the Catholic leaders said, "is tragic and misguided," adding that the only way to protect against sexually transmitted diseases is through abstinence before marriage and fidelity among married couples.
"Our political leaders fail to protect the moral tone of our community when they encourage inappropriate sexual activity by blanketing our neighborhoods with condoms," said Cardinal Edward Egan, head of the Archdiocese of New York, and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn in a joint statement.
Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said: "With all due respect to Cardinal Egan and Bishop DiMarzio, we feel differently."
New York officials revamped the condom wrapper in hopes that a distinctive design - featuring the words "NYC Condom" in the fonts and colors used in the subway system - will let them track usage with their annual community health survey.
Egan and DiMarzio said the $720,000 cost of the program "would be far better spent in fostering what is true and what is decent."
from The Associated Press

New High Speed Condom Increases Pleasure

SOUTH AFRICA - A high-speed condom, designed in South Africa, is poised to take safer sex to new heights in a nation grappling with soaring HIV infection rates.
Roelf Mulder, co-designer of the product, said he hoped its aesthetic appeal would help change the latex prophylactic usually thought of as a passion killer into a passion filler, while also preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
“This product is not only designed to help reduce the rate of contamination and infection by ensuring users do not touch the condom, but it can also be easily applied in the dark,” he told IRIN/PlusNews.
Mulder stressed that the incorrect application of a condom or accidentally rupturing it with the fingernails could lead to the potential spread of STIs.
The new more hygienic condom is opened by means of two thumb-sized handles, which are used to slide it onto the penis. It can only be applied in one way. The applicator then pops off the bottom, and the entire operation is complete in just three seconds, compared to the 30 to 40 seconds needed to don the traditional or government issue item.
Welcoming the innovative addition to this well-known preventive tool, local sexual behavior experts expressed concern that the product might become a “fleeting novelty” due to its limited market appeal and slightly higher cost.
Clinical sex therapist Elna McIntosh said, “Hopefully the applicator will not become a luxury and end up gathering dust on store shelves as a result of its retail price.”
Although the product is not yet available on the market, Mulder said his company was looking at a cost of between US$3 and $4 (about R28) each, but this could drop dramatically if the product was included in the government’s free condom roll out campaign.
The South African government distributes 30 million free male condoms per month and recently announced plans to more than double this in coming months.
Mulder started thinking about ways of enhancing condom usage after looking at the research into South Africa’s HIV prevention problem and finding that “low condom use was still a real factor” in the ongoing spread of HIV and other STIs.
“The intention of the applicator is to make more people use condoms more readily … this is a small product that could have one of the biggest impacts on our social, cultural and economic future,” he said.
An estimated 5.5 million people are living with HIV and Aids in South Africa - one of the world’s highest figures.
from Press Release