Web Site Offering Free Condoms For Teens, Good Or Bad?

I saw my first condom when I was 10 years old.

Church service had just ended, and it was custom for us youth group members to travel to Sav-ons and buy some snacks. A rather large crowd had gathered around a car in the parking lot, and there was much snickering and giggling as one boy raised a pink rubber substance off the ground.

“What is it?” asked one boy.

“It’s a condom,” answered another.

“What’s a condom?” inquired a curious soul.

This question was then followed by uncontrolled laughter, which we young-ins took part in, to not make things awkward. That was our biggest fear at the time, and we did everything in our power to both act and be mature.

Little did I know, that would serve as my sole introduction to the condom.

The condom itself was a taboo of sorts, I guess. Even during eighth grade sex education, or in the vernacular, “sex-ed,” teachers would talk about safe sex, but never did actually talk about it. They let the videos do the talking, the videos being explicit documentation of childbirth and ejaculation.

It wasn’t that condoms were too implicative of sex (they literally had diagrams detailing the entire process), it was probably too controversial. Handing out free samples of Old Spice deodorant wasn’t bound for parent disapproval, unless a particular worked for Axe or another competitor. However, giving condoms would’ve been disastrous. A lawsuit would’ve probably been issued, parents would’ve thrown a fit, and national news coverage would’ve been a few hours in the making.

Of course, that was during my adolescence (which I technically am still living at the moment). But it seems that the rate of revolution has rapidly increased. A website teensource.org, has initiated a new project, labeled the [California] Condom Access Project (CAP). It advertises free condoms for individuals between the ages 12-19 years old living in California. It literally says, “Score Free Condoms.” Bit of a culture shock indeed.

Now, it is foolish to point to this as a portent for the devaluation of American ethics and the destruction of a Christian society. Instead, it’s a bit of fresh air. I see it as the gateway necessary for much needed change in the English diction. It is illogical that words describing the male and female genitalia can be thrown about in hallways in the name of science while the word condom receives a disservice. I understand that there is a tinge of humor attached to the subject, and I’ve even heard that the use of such emasculates some men.

The fact of the matter is, condoms are beneficial -unless you’re a stickler that believes sex is solely reserved for the purpose of reproduction and all casual sex’ers, Zac Efron included, are wrong-doers. We have over 820,000 teenagers who get pregnant each year, and 79 percent of them are unmarried, with only one-third of them completing high school. In simple terms, teenage pregnancy is devastating. We all know we can’t stop teenagers from having sex, but we can stop the sex from having a negative impact on the teenager’s lives. That’s where the condoms come in, no pun intended.

New initiatives like CAP allow teens the opportunity to practice safe sex. Registering is incredibly simple, as it only requires the individual’s city, zip code, and date of birth. Plus, a plethora of addresses of local clinics and health centers spawn upon entering information. Also worthy of mention is their great job in creating a comfortable teenage environment, complete with a mascot and catchy slogan: “Put a CAP on it.”

By extending their hand in serving teenagers and their certain interests, TeenSource is connecting the gap between teenagers and adults. Teenagers need understanding and compromise, quite possibly more than adults do. What’s there to say that condoms aren’t a step in the right direction?