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THE BLUNDER OF CONDOM EDUCATION
Why is it such a difficult concept to grasp?
Condom education does not result in safe sex. Spreading the
condom lie has been a colossal blunder. More and more Canadian
teens for example, are contracting sexually transmitted diseases,
according to an article published in the January 2005 issue
"Journal of Human Sexuality". The study did have
one measure of good news, however, in that the study found
a decline in the number of teens who claim to have had sexual
intercourse. The bad news, on the other hand, is that the
rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) are rising
among Canadian youth, despite fewer being engaged in sexual
activity. This is occurring even though millions and millions
of dollars have been spent on sex education programs that
promote condom use as the answer. Yet teens are ignoring this
message. Ottawa Public Health program manager, Orhan Hassan,
has stated, "It's evident our message and strategy in
sex education needs to be looked at". A generous understatement!
Obviously, promoting condoms in sex education programs is
a tragic waste of money.
Has the Canadian government, among others,
learned anything from these dismal results? Is it looking
for alternative approaches, such as, heaven forbid, teaching
abstinence and faithfulness in sexual matters and applying
standard public health measures to prevent the spread of AIDS
and sexually transmitted diseases? No, its preferred treatment
of the problem is to continue to promote condom use. Unfortunately,
the promotion of condoms teaches youths and homosexuals engaged
in sexual activity that their only responsibility is to use
a condom. It also teaches them to regard sex as merely a casual
pastime, with no emotional, psychological and physical consequences.
It misleads homosexuals by suggesting that the terrible dangers
in their sexual practices can be easily prevented by merely
using a condom. How wrong headed.
Canadian Obstinacy
An example of the obstinacy of the Canadian government on
this issue: it recently poured, by way of the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), $100,000 into the creation, by
a Montreal film and television producer, Firdaus Kharas, of
an animated public service announcement that features talking
condoms. The title? Shaft, Stretch and Dick. What's more,
these public service announcements, called the "Three
Amigos" were launched in early January at the United
Nations for distribution to AIDS ravaged South Africa. What
a mistake. South Africa should be implementing Uganda's approach
to AIDS by educating the public on abstinence and fidelity
in marriage. It's working there: under this program, the AIDS
rate has dropped in Uganda by 50% between 1992 and 2002. Uganda
now has the lowest rate of AIDS in all of Africa (see REALity
Sept/Oct 2004, "There Is Plenty Wrong With AIDS Programs").
Canadian taxpayers are being forced to pay
for the absurd "talking condom" cartoons, which
promote the disproved theory that condoms stop STD's and AIDS.
They don't. Wisdom and common sense are absent from the minds
of those promoting such propaganda.
Why Condom Promotion Doesn't Work
One of the reasons why condom promotion does
not work was exposed in Randy Shilt's book And the Band Played
On, (Penguin, 1988). Shilts, who reported on the AIDS epidemic
from the beginning, and who died of AIDS, revealed in his
book how homosexual activists have constantly opposed standard
public health measures to control the epidemic. These standard
measures include contact tracing of sexual partners, testing,
notification and closing venues of transmission, such as bathhouses.
While homosexual activists claim to be concerned about discrimination,
they were more afraid that public health procedures, if applied
to curtail the spread of AIDS and STDs, would inhibit their
sexual freedom. For this reason, they lobbied against public
health procedures, claiming that condom education alone would
prevent new infections. The reality, however, is that although
some homosexuals use a condom some of the time, very few use
them all the time. With so many already infected, new infections
were inevitable.
The result:
- At the end of 2002, there had been a 12%
increase in HIV infections since 1999 in Canada.
- A fast acting strain of the AIDS virus,
which does not respond to 19 of 20 licensed anti-retroviral
medications, has developed.
- Syphilis in the homosexual community has
soared in most major cities in Canada. For example, the
rate of syphilis has tripled in Quebec between 2003 and
2004. In Montreal, about 95% of infected patients are homosexuals.
In Nova Scotia the medical health officer for the Capital
District Health Authority, Robert Strang, stated there has
been a major increase in new infections of syphilis in Nova
Scotia, all involving same-sex contact and that these people
are at a high risk for HIV. In Toronto, the number of reported
syphilis cases soared ten-fold and the incidence of chlamydia
and gonorrhea is up over 50% between 1999 and 2004.
Homosexuals Trolling the Internet for Sex
Partners
One of the reasons for this increase in AIDS
and sexually transmitted diseases among homosexuals is due
to the Internet which introduces sexual partners who are more
likely to practice high risk sex. According to research conducted
by the Los Angeles Health Department of sex partners who met
over the Internet, 22% were diagnosed with early stage syphilis.
Internet sex partners were four more times likely to have
anonymous sex than non internet users. Of the homosexuals
who met their partners online, an astonishing 67% were HIV
positive. They were also more than twice as likely to use
injected drugs. The increased use of the recreational drug
crystal methamphetamine and the erectile dysfunction medication,
Viagra, has greatly increased infection among homosexuals.
As a result, between 1999 and 2003, the proportion
of homosexual men in the U.S. contracting syphilis jumped
from 5% to 60%.
Effective Approach Against Unsafe Sex
It is obvious that an entirely new approach
to the issue of unsafe sex (much fueled by the above mentioned
methemphetamine use) must be implemented. The most effective
approach would be to apply the traditional public health measures
that include, screening and partner notification. To do otherwise,
means more infection, suffering and death.
Condom education has proved to be an absolute
failure. Consequently, to save lives and suffering - it's
time to move on to alternate methods that have been proven
to work.
Canada's response in 2004 was to ignore reality
and throw more money at the problem by doubling government
contributions from $42 million to $84 million over 5 years
to AIDS "education" condom use. This is a pathetic
response. Doesn't the government actually care what happens
to the homosexual community? Is political correctness more
important to the government than saving human lives?
The major responsibility, however, for the
failure to curtail the spread of AIDS lies with the homosexual
community itself in its opposition to implementing standard
public health measures. There is a huge window of opportunity
between criminalization and empty prevention messages. Why
is this window of opportunity not being taken by them?
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