From The Calgary Herald, December 28, 2007: “One in five women (aged 16 to 24) never use condoms.”
Call me a cynic, but I’m pretty sure most if-not-all women are missing the anatomy required for wearing condoms.
Why is it that women are always handed the responsibility to police sex? The article in question is a case in point: it discusses current sex education programs and their failure to encourage students — specifically female students — to practice safe sex. It goes on to claim that many women believe oral contraceptives (the pill, for example) protect against sexually transmitted diseases.
But while I’m all for encouraging safe sex, and yes, women should insist their partners wear condoms, shouldn’t this article be addressed to young men? The condom goes on their equipment, so why not stress the importance of condoms to them?
First of all, I don’t know a single woman who believes oral contraceptives protect against STDs. From experience, I know that when you go to the doctor to get or renew a prescription for birth control, the doctor reminds you that condoms are required for protection against STDs. My first time on birth control, the doctor said something along the lines of: “These stop you from getting pregnant. That’s it. You can still contract STDs. These are baby stoppers — that’s why they are called birth control pills.” And, in case you forget, reminders that oral contraceptives do not protect against STDs are printed several times on birth control packaging.
Second, I’ve heard this song before. Growing up, I received the “rape” lecture several times and from several different people in my life. The first time was in junior-high. Segregated from the boys, we learned how to prevent ourselves from becoming victims, and what to do if we became a victim. But did the boys learn about rape? No. No one told them no means no, sex by force is wrong, and all the other things women get told about rape.
No wonder a lot of them haven’t figured it out.
The article concludes by mentioning a rape case in which one of the suspects, a male, was quoted as saying “They pass out condoms, teach sex education and pregnancy-this and pregnancy-that. But they don’t teach us any rules.” Too true. The boys aren’t the ones getting taught the rules, regulations, and consequences of sex — the girls are. We get it from sex educators, parents, girlfriends, and doctors. The onus lies on us to keep sex safe, and disease- and baby-free.
It infuriates me. We need fewer studies and surveys implicating women, and more telling men to wear condoms and men to practice safe sex and men to avoid casual sex.
Perhaps the reason sex education is not producing the safest results is because it’s all aimed at one side of the mattress.
…and there you have the difference between men and women, is that what you’re saying? if ocelot isn’t posting with a completely sarcastic tone, then Jodi Shaw can say she was right on the mark. ocelot simply vindicates her point, and then some. If there was anyone typing with “incredibly little thought,” I’d have to say it was ocelot. I really hope that with the ideals and charms that he exhibits, ocelot ends up with his pants ON for the next several years; at least until he matures or his (unfortunate) girlfriends’ lawyers teach him what “responsibility” really means. There’s much more to sex than getting off, ocelot. Sex-without-consequences is just another word for masturbation; take care of your needs yourself, and leave the rest of the population out of it.
I think you’ve put incredibly little thought into writing this blather.
Maybe you’re over estimating our male character.
For the most part, us fellas don’t really care. If she gets pregnant, I’ll leave or she’ll abort. I don’t want a kid, but I don’t really care much either way. I want sex more than I care about the consequences.
I can’t see this being the case for women, however. The single mother life is none to easy, neither is struggling to get payments from a unwilling father, working extra hard, and all that which comes with having an unwanted baby. I would say it’s in the FEMALE’s best interest to learn about birthcontrol, and that us guys don’t really care either way.
So go buy some comdoms girls, cause I really don’t care one way or the other, and I imagine you’d hate to be stuck alone raising my child.
Oce