Wherefore art thou Condoms Mr Montague?
The morning headlines – Pill to be available over counter – Daily Telegraph – 13 – 12 -07 . So under 16s will be able to get the pill prescribed by a pharmacist. Moral panic hits the nation – or a brilliant concept? The nation holds its breath. Meanwhile the morning after pill has been available to under 16s for a few years – prescribed by pharmacists. Shock, horror, outrage etc… A case of bolting the stable door after the event? Now this new piece of news causes a gnashing of teeth and a great deal of moralising – so let’s join in the fun. Playing Devil’s Advocate, who is firing the first shots? And I’m not referring to the moral cannonade.
We have an armoury of contraception aimed at women – yes I know they are the gender who get pregnant, but is there something amiss here? Can an egg become fertilised without a sperm? Not in my universe, unless you’re a worm, or some other form of hermaphrodite (we’ll leave cloning and genetic experimentation out of this). We appear to inhabit a ex post facto problem solving universe, one that is so one-sided in terms of the number of effective means of contraception available to each gender that if it was a double decker bus, it would fall over if I coughed. The pill has been a liberating force for both women and men – and yes, of course let’s not deflect from the fact that lives can be stymied and blighted by unwanted pregnancies, but there is another issue in this debate – condom consideration, and the consequences of wearing – or not wearing one.
Condoms eh – don’t you just love ‘em, the only available means of preventing both pregnancies and STIs – but do they get a mention in the debate? Not a lot – because there is so much concentration on preventing a pregnancy, that we seem to have forgotten that great wave of STIs pounding on Blighty’s shores. Men of Britain – your country needs you – erm, to wear a condom. Forgive me if I’m being stupid here, but if we started at a point before it all starts (I know, it sounds like Star Wars), then the issue is getting young men to wear condoms. There is so much concentration on young women with this issue, it’s almost as if young men don’t exist – immaculate conceptions perhaps? And virgin births, no doubt (well, it is near Christmas).
If we started at this point, by informing young men of the reality of STIs in a real way – not pussyfooting around the issue, letting them know about the damage that they can potentially wreak on lives, blighting them (there’s a lot of blight in this post – the damp weather possibly) as much as an unwanted pregnancy, they may become a little selfish about protecting themselves. Romeo may even decide on a safer form of contraception i.e. a condom or even, heavens to Murgatroyd – consider delaying sex until he finds out a bit more about young Juliet and her various unprotected dalliances with members of The Sharks and the Jets before she decided that a Montague wasn’t a bad catch after all. And Romeo put it about a bit too, and who knows what he’s carrying. Not all STIs have symptoms, but how about letting young Juliet see the actual graphic ‘horrors’ of Romeo’s STIs, followed by a discussion focusing on, “would you want that dressed or undressed miss?” Hard hat campaigns for condoms? Not a case of “condoms – you’re not getting in without one” – more a case of “you’re not getting anywhere bloody near me with that thing!” Of course we wouldn’t want to stigmatise poor Romeo, but at least Juliet would be informed – she might recognise that sore spot on Romeo’s codpiece for what it is when she gives it closer inspection, she might signpost him to get it treated …she might even consider buying a pack of 3 when she pops in to pick up her pill from her perfectly able and well-informed apothecary – and pharmacist.
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