Call me a prude, but the District’s new “Rubber Revolution” grosses me out. Simply put, the D.C. government is about to start an advertising blitz to let everyone know that using condoms is fun and hip and feels good; and that your local government is ready and willing to supply anyone with 10 free condoms.
“The Rubber Revolution aims to encourage sexually active people to always use condoms and engage community and business partners to support condom use,” Mayor Adrian Fenty said in a press release. Fenty went on to say the District was “proud of its aggressive approach to address this issue.”
To which I ask, what issue?
Not enough of us are having casual sex? Not enough teenagers are hooking up in a carnal way? Too many young girls are saying “no” to going all the way because they are worried about having a baby, but now the government can take away that fear?
I know having unprotected sex carries life-changing risks. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Kids who have sex without a condom are more likely to get pregnant. Anyone having unprotected sex with a partner they don’t know and trust runs the risk of getting AIDS.
“Condoms are 90 percent effective in blocking HIV and STDs,” Health Director Pierre Vigilance said. “but they are 0 percent effective if people don’t use them.”
But how about if people don’t have sex, especially with random partners armed with one of the 3.5 million free condoms the District distributed last year?
I know this sounds conservative, perhaps Calvinist. I am not suggesting we preach abstinence. Will anyone leading the Rubber Revolution talk plain sense, such as think before you drop your drawers? Not likely.
Instead, what we will hear in radio ads and read in newspapers, Metro, Internet and text messages sounds very like a promotion for an orgy — with free condoms.
One motto: “Life Feels Better with a Condom.”
Seriously.
WPGC radio personality Big Tigger, the revolution’s “first ambassador” will try to dispel complaints D.C. fielded in its focus groups; for example, condoms are too small and interrupt the mood. Thus, you will hear these messages:
“A Condom Fits Any Head.” Or: “Big Enuf 4 U.”
And: “Get Wrapped up in the Moment.”
Seriously.
One of my colleagues approved. “It’s the same as providing clean needles to drug users,” he said. “Kids are going to have sex. We might as well protect them.”
I’m sorry to be the finger-wagging bummer in the room, but the District comes off as a cheerleader making it safe and easy for kids to have sex, as if it were just another extracurricular activity. Does sex have to be like sport? What happened to romance and intimacy?
Such an old fogey, I am, but as a culture, as a society, don’t we want to add a dash of morality to our message to minors? When it comes to sex, perhaps kids need an evolution, rather than a revolution.
