The latex fashion
VIENNA, Austria — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines might have had a collective seizure in their cossacks had its members been to the Condomize party held at the end of the XVIII International AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria. Hundreds of colorful condoms were showered over party-goers, who were also delegates and volunteers at the week-long conference. Condom balloons lofted through the crowd as dance numbers to prevention songs were performed. The highlight was a condom fashion show parading several outfits crafted from latex sheaths in all hues and pleasurable textures. This was a no-stigma zone — free from judgment of who you are and what you do, and who you do, condoms were promoted as still the most effective way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of the CBCP said in 2008 that condoms don’t prevent AIDS, and labeled safer sex campaigns as “propaganda.” Pope Benedict XVI made a similar controversial statement in 2009 on a trip to Cameroon. “AIDS cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problem,” he said, causing a furor among governments around the world (the Spain health ministry retorted by dispatching one million condoms to Africa). But bishops, cardinals and popes remain far removed from the real lives of Catholics today. In a recent poll commissioned by Catholics for Choice, 79 percent of Catholics in the Philippines agreed with the statement that “using condoms is pro-life because it helps save lives by preventing the spread of AIDS.”
What is it with Filipino clerics and condoms? The mere thought of this little piece of rubber sends frissons of revulsion down their spines. On one hand, they “hate” the condom and are so obsessed with banning it because it empowers people to take responsibility for their sexual behavior. On the other hand, “in the continuing interplay between sexual repression and illicit pleasure, the condom has been perversely fetishized by the church,” as Luis H. Francia wrote in 1999, which Carolina Ruiz notes is still true to this day in her article “The Sin of Sexual Miseducation: HIV/AIDS and the Filipino Conscience” for Conscience magazine.
A million condoms, including the trickier-to-use female condoms, were distributed at the conference venue and at metro stops and bathrooms around Vienna as part of The Condomize Campaign, an initiative of the UN Population Fund, The Condom Project and the IATT on Comprehensive Condom Programming (you can guess what I brought back as pasalubong). “It’s not just about having a condom in hand,” says Franck DeRose, executive director of The Condom Project. “We need education. People need to know how to use condoms and feel comfortable talking about them.”
The decision on sex education in the Philippines in now in the hands of a priest who has so far been cryptic on his stance, yet hinted that he was an academe first, which is a good sign. But Secretary Luistro gave much leeway for the CBCP, which is not really a good sign since they recently reiterated that the Church favors only the use of natural family planning, and exhorted that parents should be the main fount of sexual knowledge: “In the family, the lessons of love through human sexuality can be learned with respect and awe for the wonder of God’s work. Such setting and such manner of teaching will not be found in a classroom sex education program designed to simply inform and not form.”
This War on Reproductive Health and Sex Education leaves the most vulnerable groups without access to information, intervention and care, risking not only unwanted pregnancies and botched abortions but also HIV transmission. HIV is a “hidden” but growing concern in the Philippines, with 20 percent of HIV-positive cases in 2009 reported by OFWs, and an increasing incidence among young people aged 15-24. Until Health Secretary Ona makes good on his promise that the DOH will make contraceptives available in all of its clinics, prevention and awareness programs still remain inadequate. My friend’s 13-year-old brother, who downloads porn and knows what a condom is, has never heard of AIDS. This means not enough people are talking, tweeting, or making a ruckus about it. It’s time to start spreading the word.
