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Promoting condoms--who needs them most?
By Xu Shengsheng (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2004-12-22 17:07
Some time ago, around World AIDS Day this year, a number of Shanghai college
students took part in promotional activities on streets and public squares to
raise awareness of AIDS. Young ladies handed out free condoms to locals, making
a splash on the newspaper headlines.
A woman
reads condom use promotion booklet before a blown-up condom at a
Beijing campus. [Reuters] |
However, in spite of their zeal and boldness, the students were given the
cold shoulder by some passers-by, who either looked embarrassed and stepped
quickly sideways, or even threw the condoms into nearby garbage cans.
Some even grunted, though jokingly, when they realized what was inside the
package, "Isn't this sexual harassment?"
We have had similar reports before about health workers giving out condoms in
various neighbourhoods only arousing a fuss among the residents.
Why do people react to well-meant attention in such an ungrateful manner?
At the height of the nationwide campaign to spread knowledge about AIDS and
combat transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, there
remains an obvious need for a massive public health condom education campaign.
So there is nothing wrong about students or health workers trying to educate
the public about safe sexual behaviour by handing out condoms.
The distribution of the condoms is also well intentioned. But the street is
not the proper place for this and indiscriminate distribution in public is
offensive.
Unlike other giveaways that may be well received, condoms are special items
associated with sex, which most Chinese remain uncomfortable about.
Besides, the condoms in the current campaign are not aimed at pregnancy
prevention, but at the avoidance of AIDS, a disease with bad associations in the
eyes of many ordinary people.
Handing out condoms at random in public seems all the more repugnant when
those who receive one assume the implication is that they should protect
themselves against contracting HIV through unsafe sex with partners outside of
wedlock.
No surprise, then, that those who have preserved their moral integrity will
be annoyed by the gesture.
Generally speaking, Chinese are more traditional than Western people. In
traditional Chinese culture, chatting openly about sex has long been considered
disgraceful, even dirty.
Sex is a word that few would like to utter in public, and a subject not up
for open discussion. We have already taken a great leap forward by breaking the
taboo against talking about sex in public, for instance by standing on the
streets giving wide publicity to the importance of safe sex and HIV/AIDS
prevention.
However, many Chinese still find it difficult to bring the subject up. So,
while the female students are praiseworthy for their bravery, those who are
disgusted with the offer of free condoms should be treated with tolerance,
patience and understanding.
After all, changing ideas deep-rooted in tradition and culture is quite a
long process. That is why radio hotlines dealing with listeners' sex problems
are aired in the small hours.
In my opinion, people are unwilling to accept condoms not because of their
lack of consciousness about the campaign, but rather because they are unhappy
about the way it is being conducted.
In this context, it is indeed a good idea to install automatic condom vending
machines in public places, as they can then be better accepted in our country.
Another argument I would like to advance is this: while giving out condoms
and fliers in the streets can create a furore, it is the high-risk groups in
hotels, guesthouses, bars, discos and construction sites that we must give more
attention to.
Migrant workers are especially in need of such concern, since they are
strangers in the city, lonely, helpless and at the mercy of social vice.
It is among these groups that we must aggressively promote condom use. To put
people in a more receptive mood, we need to go among them in a friendly way to
comprehensively enlighten them about sex. This is a down-to-earth job, worth
additional time and efforts.
Large pictures in newspapers showing smiling girls handing out condoms may
soon fade from one's memory, but the substantial help given to those exposed to
high risks of infection will surely play a very positive role in the long-term
fight against the disease.
Yet AIDS prevention strategies will not bring notable results until the
condom-usage promotion campaign goes hand in hand with other efficient forms of
education, laying the axe to the root of the epidemic through exhibitions and
lectures providing responsible, reality-based sexuality and AIDS education.
Always bear in mind that it is those groups which have the highest rates of
sexually transmitted infections that need our attention most.
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