Philadelphia: Birthplace of Free...Condoms.

So I was on the way home from work the other day when I saw a guy near the train stop handing out condoms like the one pictured. They're part of a Philly health department program that targets school-age kids to promote safe sex. (I personally think a lot of folk my age could use some safe sex training, but let me not digress...this early.) Students can either visit a web site and request one be mailed to them or just wander the streets until they encounter a jimmy hat fairy like I did...either way, it's a program that's one of the first of it's kind. But, like any most any other new program, it has detractors.

They contend that passing out prophylactics to 9th graders is an endorsement of underage casual sex and other related arguments. I, of course, think that's bullshit...all these TV shows about teens and their pregnancies is ample evidence that they'll slap their little stomachs together whether they have a condom or not. (Hell, I have plenty of anecdotal evidence too...more than half of my graduating class has school-age kids now...the class of '05 will almost directly produce the class of '20, assuming any of them graduate...ain't that some shit?)


I mean, let's be real here...who still thinks that people aren't having sex in high school? I'm not gonna embarrass myself by revealing my own rookie year, but suffice it to say pretty much everybody was in training camp with me. I'm not saying it's right...honestly, if I could take it back, I would. (Of course, I would have given it away again to somebody else by now, but my point remains valid.) In a world with pregnancy pacts, next level STDs such as anal fire crabs and the Revenge of Syphills, and general whorishness, isn't the least we can do for our kids is make them aware of how to keep themselves safe?

However, there's a strong contingent that suggest that doing this is a bad idea. They say things like "that's like saying it's okay to go around fuckin' all the other kiddies!" or "this promotes sexual activity in young kids" or "they're too young for that". Allow me to dispel those myths in order. Giving a teenager a condom isn't saying "it's okay for you to go around fuckin' all the other kiddies!" any more than telling them to put on a seatbelt means "it's okay for you to text while driving". It doesn't promote sexual activity, it's harm reduction for the activity already going on.

About the third part, I will admit most of them are too young for it, but besides the fact that more and more of them look less and less young, (jalebait has made as many advances as any other kind of bait by twentyleven...just like they have little plastic thingies that resemble and act like real fish, they have little girls that resemble and act like real women...in both cases, the baitee can barely tell the difference...and will probably experience negative effects as a result) that really doesn't stop them...so they should at least have the tools to protect themselves. For me, it's just common sense.

Really, I will agree on a level with those who say this isn't our government's business. I don't feel it is...it's the parents' job to make sure their kid is ready for all aspects of the world of today by giving them good information and allowing them to make (reasonably) logical choices, not telling them certain things don't exist until they find out the hard way that they do indeed. Of course, many of the people that have a problem with this probably don't do that either, so they should probably consider shutting the fuck up.

Hell, in a city with the highest rate of sexually active teens, the 5th highest STD rate (3-5x the national rate, depending on the variety of crotch rot) AND home to a large African-American population (as I mentioned, statistical league leaders in babyfatherism and AIDS infection rates) ...kinda better to have it and not need it, right? All this went through my mind as I approached the man giving out condoms on my way to the train stop...but it was condensed into the form of a joke I tossed at the guy as I walked down the steps: "Hey, there's a high school down the street, you should go stand out there!" He laughed, but then said something that really made me think: "I was just over there...most of them don't even want 'em!" Hey...you can only do so much, I guess...