MetaFilter posts tagged with condoms

AIDS Prevention Strategies in Africa

Roach — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:32:52 -0800

According to Senior Harvard AIDS Prevention Researcher Dr. Edward Green, condoms not only are not helping to prevent the AIDS crisis, but are actually making the problem worse.

Are We About to Eliminate AIDS?

andoatnp — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:40:53 -0800

New Scientist:

What if we could rid the world of AIDS? The notion might sound like fantasy: HIV infection has no cure and no vaccine, after all. Yet there is a way to completely wipe it out - at least in theory. What's more, it would take only existing medical technology to do the job.

Here's how it works. If someone who is HIV positive takes antiretroviral-drug therapy they can live a long life and almost never pass on the virus, even through unprotected sex. So if everyone with HIV were on therapy, there would be little or no transmission. Once all these people had died, of whatever cause, the virus would be gone for good. It's a simple idea, but the obstacles to implementing it worldwide are enormous. Persuading everyone with HIV to start therapy purely for public health reasons could be ethically dubious. To identify everyone who is HIV positive would require such widespread testing that some may feel it breached their civil liberties. Then there is the question of who would fund such a massive undertaking.

Much much more in the article.

Protection racket

Myeral — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:25:50 -0800

Archbishop offers a view on HIV/AIDS in Africa. The Archbishop of Mozambique, Francisco Chimoio, posits a new theory about the high incidence of HIV/AIDS on the African continent. He won’t be specific about which companies he believes are poisoning the tips though. It remains to be seen whether this, along with the Church's current policy on abortion and Amnesty International, will contribute to the long-running debate over the politics of HIV/AIDS and healthcare. I thought there was an intriguing counterpoint with the words of Thabo Mbeki, quoted in this article from 2001: "[The West is]..."Convinced that we are but natural-born, promiscuous carriers of germs, unique in the world, they proclaim that our continent is doomed to an inevitable mortal end because of our unconquerable devotion to the sin of lust."

Lets Talk About (lack of) Sex

kliuless — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:42:32 -0800

Americans Not Making Time for Making Love according to Durex® [note: PR and attendant conflicts]. "Americans are having a lot less sex than just about everyone else in the world, and when they do, less than half are fully satisfied." Also from the 2007/2008 Durex® Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey: Where is sex safer?

Bill Maher: The Decider

McLir — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:28:16 -0800

"Bill Maher: The Decider" [Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, YouTube]. Maher at the top of his game.

"Law school is an unlikely option, she said."

The Straightener — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:32:58 -0800

Flour in Condoms Sent Her to Jail. An arguably boneheaded move combined with faulty field test results sent a Bryn Mawr College student to jail for three weeks for carrying a flour filled condom through airport security. A year later she has settled her case with the Philadelphia police department for $180,000.

Forever Pregnant II: Morality Boogaloo

boost ventilator — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 18:43:10 -0800

The new lies about women's health (image slightly NSFW) according to Glamour. More on why every egg is sacred to the Bush administration. [via Wired's Sex Drive Daily]

No More Free Prostitution

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 16:38:02 -0800

It's Time To Get Back To The Basics In Missouri: "A year after Republicans took control of state government, conservative lawmakers are promoting a wide range of social legislation designed to rein in sex and unshackle the Bible." One proposed bill, for example, would recognize a Christian God as the deity for most Missourians. Other bills deny alimony to ex-spouses who live with a boyfriend or girlfriend, ban all abortions, allow pharmacists, insurance companies, doctors and hospitals to deny treatment if the procedure or medication offends their moral values, and require sex education classes to teach that life begins at fertilization and that an unborn child has “sensory awareness” long before birth. Rep. Cynthia Davis, Republican and sponsor of several bills, said conservatives are tired of an overly permissive society in which high school students are taught how to use condoms. "...if the state starts paying for contraceptives we will have more babies than if we just teach people to not expect free prostitution from poor people. "

World AIDS Day: more people are living with AIDS than ever before

jessamyn — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:30:35 -0800

"[S]ave more lives" is what George Bush pledged to do in a speech today about the AIDS epidemic. With more people living with AIDS in the world than ever before, is the US's problematic stance of promoting an ABC policy and other controversial policies working? Or is it an appropriate response to a culturally touchy topic that some oddball health officials in African nations are still coming to grips with?

They Wrapped a Sock Around Their C---

Secret Life of Gravy — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 09:39:55 -0800

Bush's War on Condoms "... the Bush administration's policy of emphasizing abstinence-only prevention programs and cutting federal funding for condoms have contributed to an alleged condom shortage in Uganda." Meanwhile, people desperate to prevent HIV infection have begun using garbage bags as condom substitutes.

Don't be a fool, vulcanize your tool!

Wet Spot — Fri, 30 Apr 2004 12:36:38 -0800

Accidental condom inhalation. (pdf)

All your sperm are belong to us

taz — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 12:15:17 -0800

All your sperm are belong to us : play the condom game.

Policies that kill?

mathowie — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:08:47 -0800

Starting with this year's State of the Union address, President Bush began a plan to increase aid to Africa, and at the center of that plan is funding to prevent the spread of AIDS and HIV that has reached epidemic proportions on the continent. Critics however, have noted that aid to clinics comes with strings attached. Abstinence is preached first and foremost and condoms are mentioned only as a last resort. This reporter flat out says the policy to curtail the funding and use of condoms in Africa is killing millions.

Christianity and a piece of rubber.

stonerose — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 17:52:40 -0800

The value of disobedience. [note: nytimes] "Ignoring the reactionary policies of the Vatican, some local priests and nuns quietly do what they can to save parishioners from AIDS." So: when and why do people choose to quietly disobey, rather than leave and promote change from outside their social institutions...or vice versa? Should dissenters just leave, or stay and fight? Anecdotes from Republicans and NRA members are especially welcome ;-)

The Church and science

the fire you left me — Thu, 09 Oct 2003 08:49:41 -0800

Vatican declares fresh Death all around. It seems the Vatican is telling people in countries with high AIDS infection not to use condoms, because the virus is small enough to pass through the porous latex. The World Health Organization believes condoms do reduce the risk of AIDS transmission. To which the Vatican's Cardinal Trujillo replied: "They are wrong about that... this is an easily recognisable fact."

He wore the crown, but not the jimmie hat / Now he wears a frown and the jimmie hates that.

Ufez Jones — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 12:09:31 -0800

Jimmie Hatz, the official condom of Hip Hop Kulture™. Available in Great Dane and Rottweiler. Hey, whatever gets more people to use them, no? (flash-based site)

It ain't coming out.

sandor — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:55:32 -0800

"I was thinking, 'The only way to make something that won't come off is to tie it on,' and then it just popped in my mind - go around the testicles." Ann Arbor man invents new condom, wife rejoices.

drop condoms, not bombs

subpixel — Fri, 10 Jan 2003 21:04:38 -0800

An undeclared war on latex is apparently being waged by the Bush administration, which is taking all sorts of steps to avoid condoning their use. This is a patently ridiculous stance to take in the face of a global AIDS epidemic, but this interesting essay also raised my eyebrows:

According to figures in a report on condoms by Population Action International, the average man in Botswana gets less than one condom per year from international donors.

Uhhh...doesn't the idea of condoms as a staple of international relief seem a bit strange? Haven't governments around the world devoted any resources to their own public health? Surely donor-nations can't keep everyon else's penises safely sheathed forever.

Condoms bad! No sex, good!

dejah420 — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 10:14:55 -0800

White House Wages Stealth War on Condoms The government is waging a covert war on condoms. Fact sheets on the effectiveness of condoms in preventing the transmission of the AIDS virus have disappeared from government sites. Right wing activists have been appointed to the the presidential AIDS panel. Government audits of AIDS activist groups who protest these policies have begun. So, apparently only evil-doers have sex outside of marriage, and they deserve to die horrible deaths.

The male contraceptive pill

norm29 — Wed, 13 Nov 2002 08:08:30 -0800

The male contraceptive pill is 100% effective and will be available in 2005. Will you take it? Will men stop using condoms and STDs increase as a result? Can men be trusted to take it every day?

iconomy — Wed, 29 May 2002 11:40:55 -0800

Underwear, raw eggs, temporary tattoos, condoms designed to match your blood type, emu jerky, marijuana, hot noodles, super glue. What do they all have in common, besides possibly being things you need to have a really unforgettable Saturday night? They're all things that have been sold in vending machines. From Raphael Carter, author of the insect-centric Honeyguide weblog.

boogah — Mon, 25 Feb 2002 10:11:23 -0800

make sure she really means "yes"... consent condoms are an interesting twist on using condoms in a causal sex environment. the man hands a package to his partner containing a condom and a card which takes her fingerprints and lets her tear off the date for which the condom is to be used. one's to wonder if all casual sex will be conducted like this in the future.

jellybuzz — Fri, 15 Feb 2002 09:54:48 -0800

There goes Colin Powell, pissing off the far right again. This time the Family Research Council and folks like Gary Bauer demand to know how dare he go on MTV and, in response to a teen's question about AIDS, tell kids to USE CONDOMS! (And for that matter, what is the secretary of state doing appearing on that smut-filled network in the first place, and what kinds of parents allow their children to listen to satanic rock music and hip-hop, and how dare insolent children raise filthy questions with government officials about SEX?!)

summer1971 — Wed, 25 Jul 2001 11:37:09 -0800

Condoms don't really work? According to this study conducted by a panel of 10, 000 physicians, while condoms are 85 percent effective in helping prevent the spread of HIV, they offer less protection against sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and genital herpes. The worst part? They claim the CDC has known this for years.

120degrees — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 12:36:33 -0800

No ~~soup~~ sex for you!. President Daniel arap Moi has urged Kenyans to abstain from sex for at least two years to try to curb the spread of HIV. The government announced plans on Wednesday to import 300 million condoms to fight AIDS.