Abstinence all around..The Star Tribune!

Check out this interview about you guessed it…Abstinence..the Condom!

By Gail Rosenblum, Star Tribune

There’s nothing too surprising about a safe-sex campaign promoting abstinence. This time, though, the abstinence promoters are an unlikely bunch of left-leaning doctors, sexual health educators and marketers.

That’s because Abstinence, in this case, is the name of a new condom, manufactured and tested in accordance with Food and Drug Administration standards. The tagline: “Having sex or thinking about it? Choose Abstinence … the condom.”

Get it?

The lubricated latex condoms, targeting teens and young adults, are sold only via the Internet, “although we’d definitely like to see this in retail,” said Chicago-based marketer Peter Benkendorf, who developed the condom concept with a young filmmaker named Guy Clark, also of Illinois.

Abstinence-Only Vs. Comprehensive Sex Ed

Although the controversy over sexuality education is being played out in a number of ways, the abstinence-only movement is clearly having the biggest impact. Abstinence-only programs are reportedly used in about 25% of the nation’s roughly 16,000 school districts. Among the most popular: “Sex Respect.” (See the related story on Sex Respect.)

Abstinence…the Lighter Side