Friday, December 01, 2006

Condom Olympics

After my last two posts, here is something a little lighter today. Question: How are you observing World AIDS Day? Here are two examples...

A Canadian community is holding the condom olympics which organizers call a "light-hearted face on a very serious issue." Events will include blowing up condoms, condom relay races, shooting condoms, and condom volleyball using flyswatters to keep blown up condoms in the air. Laurel Petty, the city's AIDS Community Action Project coordinator says said this, "It will be a fine evening brainstorming with the kids."

If you haven't had your fill of condoms (*cough*), then get on a plane to Thailand. Because there, you will be trying to make history with a Guinness World Records attempt at the "longest condom chain". I'm not making this up. Here's the quote:
Participants at the "Condom Chain of Life" festival will link 25,000 condoms and will be led by UN Aids special representative Mechai Viravaidya, a national Aids activist formerly known as "Mr Condom", who was named a 2006 Time magazine hero for his groundbreaking HIV prevention efforts. The attempt will take place at 7:30pm inside the King Rama VI entrance to Lumphini Park.
I just want to go on record right now, and place my rubber stamp of approval (*cough again*), to these two projects. Now, before you throw stuff at me, don't get me wrong. I realize that AIDS worldwide is a considerable concern.

But, the condom olympics and the condom chain of life? Pleeze! Will hyped events like these have an overall positive effect over time to advance the cause of worldwide AIDS education? I guess time will tell.

Update: Just when you thought you had enough condom talk, I saw this item at MedGagdet this morning. The title of the article is Spray On Condom = Instant Lovin'. No joke! Check it out.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I wrote about my experiences with AIDS on my blog yesterday. And I have a link up to One.org. Not very lighthearted like the condom olympics though.

Lea said...

Hilarious post Doctor A!

I believe that all of these activities are only benefiting the condom makers, instead of advancing AIDS education.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who has ever seen the toll that AIDS has on its victims has to agree with Lea above.

But people seem to have a lot easier time poking fun about condoms than considering the real issues. Perhaps the good in this is that they'll stop and think...if even for a minute.

Sarebear said...

They wanted to raise (*cough*) condom sales.

hee hee.

The arresting sight of so many condoms will hopefully, as drwes says, make some stop and think.

Anonymous said...

I added a button to my blog. In the past, I've volunteered at an AIDS Hospice so I think I'll just "remember" today.

Anonymous said...

I had to chuckle when I read this article, and i read it to my staff who also got a kick out of it.

While I do believe that it is a good way to educate (who wants to listen to a boring lecture on teh subject), I have to agree with lea in some ways... that it is largely benefiting the condom makers.

Anonymous said...

"Your "rubber" stamp of approval". HA!!! Don't know why but that just cracked me up! Thanks for he laugh.

BTW, I hope you will join us for our writing challenge!

HP said...

I blogged about this yesterday. The experience in Australia is that there has been a tailing off in support and awareness for AIDS, with a resultant rise in infection rates.
I also highlighted the Condom Chain of Life as one of the 'lighter' events happening yesterday. I think Thailand represents a different scenario to that experienced in the US or Australia, with a great deal of condom resistance. While the exercise sounds comical and non-serious, if it encourages even one person to consider condom use, then it has some benefit.

Anonymous said...

I'd read about the spray-on, too. Tried to imagine the process, who'd be in charge, whether the act would be, uh, deflating in any way and if so, how, uh, forgiving would the substance be during reinvigoration.

Dr. Deb said...

So fun to read and a great message on this World AIDS Day.

ipanema said...

:)

Come to think how this 'rubber' could save millions of lives if it's through sexual transmission that people get infected.

I hope that the Catholic church through the recent study arranged by the Vatican will come to realise this.

Anonymous said...

Well, I didn't observe it with condoms, but all the students and teachers at my school wore red ribbons today. I prefer that to the "condom chain".

Anonymous said...

these people have too much condom, i mean, time, in their hands.

Ian said...

Just be careful with that spray-on. Make sure you've done your manscaping properly, or you're going to get to "enjoy" the "experience" of "waxing".

Ian

Anonymous said...

Monogamy is the cure!
Luv
X

Anonymous said...

OMG, I'm laughing my head off about that term "manscaping", hee hee!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey, Dr. A: tag!

Anonymous said...

Now that is just bizarre. I can think of nothing more nauseating than a chain of condoms. PLEEEZZZ is right!

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree with some of the previous comments. Events like these, wacky as they may be, help make people more comfortable with the idea of discussing condoms and, therefore, more likely to consider using condoms. (Not sure about these specific events, but often things like these also have an educational component in the form of safer sex info or even free condoms that are distributed to participants and spectators.)

Anonymous said...

totally agree with PARLANCHEQ....i b'lieve events like this hold the key to everyone getting comfortable with the concept of protection.....This may sound hillarious to people in some parts of the world but many cases of unprotected sex occur just for the trivial reason that people are too shy to go and ask for a condom. These event go a long way in popularising condom use and I think they should be promoted..