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Selling Safe Sex
By
all appearances, the safe sex campaign isn't working—at least
not well enough. Young people are having intercourse sooner and
with more
partners. And for the first time in a decade, condom sales actually fell
in 1991. While no sex may be the only truly safe sex, we must accept
and
deal with the reality.
Why
isn't the message getting through? It's obvious: Our young people
aren't convinced.
Most
promotional efforts for safe sex have centered on AIDS. And, while AIDS
is a terrible disease, it isn't nearly as common as many of the other
problems promiscuity can bring. Statistics prove that AIDS isn't a real
threat in the minds of most young people.
About 45,000 people were diagnosed with AIDS in the 12 months ending in
September 1992, bringing the total to something more than 200,000. As
many as 40,000,000 people may have condyloma. This year alone, one in
50 Americans is likely to contract chlamydia. More than 85 percent of
sexually transmitted disease occur in those under 30.
How many of those young people know that AIDS is far from the only incurable
sexually transmitted disease? Herpes may hide, but it doesn't go away—and
it can threaten the life of a newborn. Condyloma knows no cure—and
it appears that it plays an important role in the development of cervical
and penile cancer. Hepatitis may be immediately life threatening, and
it increases the risk of liver cancer. We don't know how to cure it.
Do young ladies know that the age at which they begin having intercourse
and the number of partners they have both independently increase the risk
of developing female cancers later in life? And even assuming that they
have the good sense to use protection, do they know that condoms are much
less effective at protecting against some diseases than others?
Not until young people are taught how their bodies work and what the choices
and risks really mean can they be expected to act sensibly. Parents need
to educate and encourage their schools to educate.
Twenty years ago, saying "Don't do it because it's not nice"
didn't work. Today, saying "Don't do it because you might get AIDS"
isn't working. Instead, we need to say "Here are the facts; you decide." The
more they know, the more abstinence will look like a real option.
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