The Truth About Condoms?

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | April 30, 2013

According to Bill Gates, they prevent the experience of sexual pleasure. Madonna thinks condoms will save Africans from HIV/AIDS. The CDC thinks homosexuals should be using them more…

Interesting article on Bill Gates’ search for a better condom. Excerpt below:

Sex researcher Dr. Rachel Jones at the Guttmacher Institute recently published a study in the journal Contraception that found that the “withdrawal method of birth control is nearly as effective as condoms in preventing pregnancy.” By the study’s measures, “pulling out” had a failure rate of four percent, while condoms had a failure rate of two percent.

The conversation about sexually transmitted infections also benefits from the amplification of empirical evidence. HIV is a serious problem, and it demands medical vigilance in the search for a cure and the campaign for better treatments, drugs, and care. To pretend that simply telling people to wear condoms will work, however, is dangerously naïve.

According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2010, men who have sex with men accounted for 63 percent of HIV infections.

Despite widespread HIV awareness campaigns and knowledge about condoms,50 percent of gay men do not use them, and the HIV rate among gay men is on the rise because of it. Mark S. King, an award winning author and leading advocate for AIDS awareness in the gay community, who is also gay and HIV positive, recently gave a perfect summary of the motivation behind unprotected sex: “We keep talking about barebacking as if it’s some kind of psychosis, when really all it is is men behaving naturally.”

It is natural for anyone of any sexual orientation to not only preserve, but maximize pleasure during sex. Bill Gates is one of the few public figures addressing “safe sex” in such a way that prioritizes pleasure, and his foundation appears alone in its work to honestly wrestle with the real reasons people don’t like or use condoms. That makes Gates one of the only committed and serious people fighting the HIV/AIDS crisis — in America and abroad.

If the Gates initiative, for what his foundation calls the “next generation condom” succeeds, it will spark a new conversation on sexual issues — one that acknowledges that the truth is always necessary to solve any social problem. No “progress” that uses a lie as an usher is worth welcoming. More importantly, if Gates succeeds, he will have also significantly increased people’s chances of protecting themselves against the horror of AIDS, while empowering them to feel good in the process.

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