Would you eat sweets with a wrapper on?
I thought about commenting on the news article Bleak stories behind failed condom campaigns back in mid-April when it was highlighted on the Catholic Radio International show The Heart Of The Matter. When I read it again last Saturday in the May 1st issue of Life and Family Report by St. Joseph’s Workers for Life and Family, I decided to finally comment.
No, I would never again eat sweets with a wrapper on. I tried it before I was Catholic, and it just wasn’t as pleasurable as without a wrapper, which is why I often took the wrapper off before the sweet was gone.
OK, if that wasn’t graphic enough for you:
Two-thirds of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The men there sleep with whomever they like and don’t get married until they are old and need someone to cook for them. “A man might be sleeping with six different women in a year.” These men want to have children, so they don’t use condoms.
HIV positive men in Sub-Saharan Africa often don’t care if they give it to someone else. They think, “I can’t be the only one. Since someone gave me the disease, I will give it to someone else.” Men that don’t care if they pass on a disease don’t use condoms.
Rape is common place, and “even if the rapist is known, nothing much is done.” In South Africa, “more than a quarter of all the females can expect to be raped at least once in their life.” Rapist don’t use condoms.
These are the facts of the general sexual morality in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is why Pope Benedict XVI is sceptical about the effectiveness of distributing condoms as a solution to this problem. Even if a condom is used, it’s no guarantee that a disease will not be transmitted. If anything, condoms embolden people to take more risks. “Fighting AIDS with condoms is like extinguishing a fire with petrol.”
Will a man who sleeps with several different women say, “I better not use a condom because the pope says it’s a sin”? Will a man who doesn’t care if he passes on a disease say, ”I better not use a condom because the pope says it’s a sin”? Will a rapist say, ”I better not use a condom because the pope says it’s a sin”? It is ludicrous to think that anyone that engages in activity that is far more immoral than using a condom will not use a condom simply because the pope says it’s a sin.
What is needed in Sub-Saharan Africa is not condoms, but morality. The only positive thing about distributing condoms as a solution is the revenue generated by western condom manufacturers; a revenue that is funded primarily by taxpayers. Since the condoms don’t get used, wouldn’t it be a lot easier to just flush money down a toilet? Oh yeah, they can’t afford ones that flush.
There is only one rational solution to the world wide problem of HIV/AIDS and other STDs: have only one sex partner for your entire life. Since you know you’re not going to get a disease, and NFP is more reliable for avoiding pregnancy, there’s no reason to compromise sexual pleasure with a condom. Don’t eat sweets with a wrapper on.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Lol, I have always had this reasoning in my mind but this nails it.
I mean, as if the Pope’s message is making rapists, sexual perverts, prostitutes and other people who “faithfully” listen to the Pope not use condoms. Because their raping activities and selling their bodies is clearing going to make them want to listen to the Pope.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
“I can’t eat a sweet with its wrapper!”
July 28th, 2009 at 10:23 am
This is crazy. As much as people’s lack of morals and sexual exploration bother me, we can not force people to develop morals. The best thing I know to do with the people in my house is to educate them. You can expect someone to make a better decision if they are educated on the subject. A little scare tactic never hurt either. I have told my teenage boys the horror stories of STD’s and unwanted pregnancy to hopefully scare them out of having sex and when they do decide to have sex, hopefully it will be protected. We can’t make decisions for other people but I couldn’t expect my children to believe this just because the pope said it, so how would you ever think this neglegent group of people are going to care what he said.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:59 am
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