2. Secure from threat of danger, harm or loss
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Eleventh edition (2007) Pg. 1095
In the last 30 years condoms have claimed to be the savior of sexuality by providing safe sex or safer sex. Condoms are being sold and distributed around the world as the solution to casual sexual behaviors in preventing pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Really!
What are the odds?
In best case scenarios of condom use, approximately 3% of couples who used condoms consistently and correctly experience an unintended pregnancy during the first year of use. 1.
However, consistent and correct use does not represent typical use of condoms.
Consistency is defined as using a condom at every act of sexual intercourse. Correct use means "using undamaged, unexpired condoms, using only water-based lubricants, careful opening of the package, correct placement and use throughout intercourse, and correct removal of the condom after ejaculation." 2.
Typical condom use is more accurately represented by a failure rate of 14%, accounting for inconsistent and incorrect use as well as breakage and slippage. Use factors such as experience, condom size and use of lubricant can affect slippage and breakage. 3.
A study involving 26,291 homosexual men, heterosexual men and heterosexual women who visited the University of Colorado's clinic in Denver over a two year period reported that 57% of the women, 48% of the heterosexual men and 33% of the homosexual men reported condom error. 4
Efficacy rates for condom use is generally reported for pregnancy. However, rates for sexually transmitted diseases vary by disease.
Condoms do not prevent transmission of the human papillomavirus, which is the leading cause of cervical cancer. 5.
Condoms may reduce risk of HIV infection by approximately 69%. 6.
Between The Lines, Michigan's statewide gay newspaper, reports that the risk of anal cancer increases by nearly 4,000% for men who have sex with men. They state that a condom only offers limited protection against developing anal cancer." 7.
HIGH ODDS OF 'ACCIDENT'
What do these efficacy rates mean in terms of human numbers?
Would you get into an automobile or a plane with these odds??????
Suppose, for example, that 20 million people used condoms for 'protection'.
By the best case of 3% failure rate, 600,000 people will experience failure.
How can we envision the immensity of this number? A typical arena for an NBA game holds about 20,000 people. It would take 30 arenas filled to capacity to hold the people in this sample of 20 million who failed to be 'safe' using a condom.
By the typical use rate of 14% failure, 2,800,000 people will be 'unpleasantly surprised'.
That's TWO MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND! Now we're talking about 140 arenas of 20,000 people.
SEDUCTION OF THE YOUNG
Many of us remember when sex was treated with respect and awe because it was the behavior that created new life.
Sex was treated with concern because of the serious diseases that were spread through this behavior.
Sex was not a toy to be experimented with and played with by children.
Sexuality was a sacred behavior to be saved and 'kept safe' for marriage and family.
However, in the last 30 years sexual behavior has been 'sold' to the young as a choice or an option of behavior. Condom companies have introduced their products within the school system with instructions as to its use.
In November of 1991, the New York City high schools inaugurated the first large-scale condom distribution program in the nation. Under a cloak of secrecy, condoms were made available to students, even if their parents objected. 8.
Donated by Carter-Wallace, maker of the Trojan brand of condom, and Schmid Laboratories, the maker of Ramses, 500 or 1,000 boxes of condoms were delivered to each school. A pamphlet explaining how to use the condom was included and teachers also provided instruction. Teachers were taught how to avoid discouraging students who wanted a condom, while reminding them that 'abstinence is a viable option'. 9.
By 1997, 418 public schools made condoms available to students. 10.
Now condoms come in different colors and different flavors!
Young people have been drawn into early and promiscuous sexual relationships.
In March of 2008, researchers at the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that 1 in 4 teen girls has at least one sexually transmitted disease. 11.
The virus that causes cervical cancer, the human papilloma virus, was the most common. Chlamydia, the second most common, is usually without symptoms and can cause infertility.
"America has the highest teen pregnancy rate for developed countries in the world, and has one of the highest teen STD rates as well...in recent years, 65% of STD infections were in people under the age of 24, and one out of four HIV infections were in people under the age of 22." 12.
STRAIGHT TALK
Let's talk straight to the children and youth. Let's tell it like it is.
It is the place of the public schools to teach the truth about behaviors to it's students.
It's the place of the schools to teach young people self-respect, self-control, and self-discipline rather than careless indulgence of sexual behaviors.
Abstinence is the only sure defense against unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Sexuality should be returned to the safety of marriage relationships, not handed to children as lollipops.
References:
1. Workshop Summary: Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitteds Disease (STD) Prevention. June 12-13,
2000. Hyatt Dulles Airport. Herndon, Virginia. Page 10.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. National Institute of Health, Dept. of Health and Human Services.July, 20, 2001.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Facts about condoms and their use in prevcnting HIV infections and other STDs . CDC
HIV/AIDS Prevention: July 1993:1-3.
3. Workshop Summary: (see above) Page 10.
4. Condom Use and the Spread of Sexually Transmitted Dieseases. April 19th, 2008.
http://www.condomman.com/articles/index.php?tag=rising-std-rates.
5. Condoms' Effectiveness in Preventing Pregnancy, Std's at Center of Debate on Revising Package Labels. The Media Project. June
30,2005. http://www.themediaproject.com/news/itn/063005.htm.
6. Weller, SC. "A meta-analysis of condom effectiveness in reducing sexually transmitted HIV." Soc Sci Med. 1993 Jun:36(12):1635-44.
Comment in Soc Sci Med. 1994 Apr:38(8): 1169-70.
7. Glenn, Gary. "Compassionate Society Should Discourage Deadly Homosexual Behavior." American Family Association.
March 19, 2001. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1039280/posts.
8. Berger, Joseph. "Start of Condom Distribution Fails to Faze Many Students". November 24, 1991. The New York Times.
nytimes.com.
9. Ibid.
10. Advocates for Youth. Unpublished data from the School Condom Availability Clearinghouse. Washington DC: Advocates, 1997.
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/factsheet/fsschcon.htm.
11. The Associated Press. Tuesday, March 11, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23574940/print/1/displaymode/1098.
12. Safe Sex Education in the USA. March 25th, 2008. http://www.condomman.com/articles/index.php?tag=rising-std-rates.
