10 things to know about condoms
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia passes along this information about condoms and stresses the importance of their use. Condoms are always free at PPSEV health centers (515 Newtown Road, Virginia Beach; 499-7526; or 403 Yale Drive, Hampton, 826-2079.
1. When it comes to HIV, using a condom makes sex 10,000 times safer than not using a condom.
2. There is no medical reason why someone can’t use a condom. Even people with latex allergies can use them — there are latex-free condoms made of polyurethane and polyisoprene.
3. Condoms have been around a long, long time. The earliest known illustration of a man using a condom is a 12,000–15,000-year-old painting on the wall of a cave in France.
4. One in four acts of vaginal intercourse is condom-protected in the U.S. It is one in three among single people.
5. People who use condoms feel their experiences are just as pleasurable as people who don’t.
6. Ninety-three percent of sexually active American women aged 15–44 have had a partner that used a male condom.
7. Condom availability in places of need around the world is increasing significantly, with 25.8 million female condoms provided through international and nongovernmental funding sources in 2009. Condom distribution increased by 10 million between 2008 and 2009.
8. The condom is one of the most accessible and inexpensive forms of birth control available. The cost of condoms is as low as $0.04 per unit.
9. The vast majority of American teens (68 percent of females and 82 percent of males) use a condom the first time they have sex.
10. Only 39 percent of American high school students are taught how to correctly use a condom in their health classes. Programs that teach young people about abstinence as well as contraception, including condom use, help youth to delay first sex and use condoms and other forms of contraception when they do have sex.
(Information provided by Leslie Kantor, national director of education initiatives, Planned Parenthood Federation of America)
PPSEV is also offering emergency contraception for half price; if taken within 3 days after unprotected sex, EC has an 89 percent rate of preventing pregnancy.
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