A golf clap for the Pope on condoms

Which factors into your thinking about sex more: the Pope or HIV? Perhaps neither? The Pope this week took the teeniest tiniest step towards a responsible view on condoms by declaring that male sex workers could use them. Oh goody.
Researcher and MM contributor Nina Funnell looks at whether this is reason to cheer or jeer…

From The Age:

Progressives across Australia gave the Pope a slow, droll clap this week for supposedly softening the church’s line on the use of condoms.

Others in the church were quick to react, claiming that the Pope had not changed the church’s stance on condoms and that his remarks were misinterpreted. Apparently what Pope Benedict XVI really meant was that when it comes to HIV infection and condoms, condoms are the “lesser of two evils” (but presumably still evil). Who knew that latex could be evil?

But later the Vatican clarified the Pope’s statement on the use of condoms to avoid AIDS, confirming that the exemption applies to protect any person, “man or woman or transsexual”.

Indeed, many individuals both inside and outside the church still associate AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections with sex workers and homosexuals.

And yet, in the 10 years to 2009 the number of new HIV diagnoses in Australia increased by about 30 per cent. Significantly, the proportion of diagnoses among heterosexuals rose from 10 per cent in 2000 to 29 per cent in 2009.

While it is true then, that certain populations may be statistically more at risk, any person can contract HIV and so all sexually active people must take precautions. Condoms are a great start.

Of course, the other purpose of condoms is to serve as contraception. It is unlikely that the Pope will ever endorse condom use for this purpose — preventing disease is seen is one thing, preventing an unwanted pregnancy is seen as another all together.

This year marked the 50-year anniversary of the contraceptive pill. As a young woman, it is inconceivable, so to speak, to imagine a time when women were not permitted to control their own reproductive destiny.

When first introduced, the pill was only available to married women as it was feared that if unmarried women could access the pill, young women would become overly promiscuous.

In time, it was realised that all women, regardless of marital status, are ethically entitled to be able to make decisions regarding their own fertility.

Fifty years later, the role of women in society has drastically evolved, in part, because of the freedom that contraception has given them through greater control over when, with whom and how often they choose to reproduce.

While in the grand scheme of human reproduction, 50 years is not a great deal of time, any scientist will tell you that a 50-year time frame is more than adequate when trialling a new drug.

And yet the Pope clings to the official view that contraception is immoral. And I suspect this won’t change. The fear is that if a single thread comes loose, then the whole tapestry may come undone.

Thankfully when it comes to condoms and contraceptive use, comprehensive sex education is pushing a different view — if it’s not on, it’s not on.

So how relevant do you think the Pope and the Catholic church when it comes to the issue of people’s sex lives? Does HIV (or the Pope) factor into your decisions about contraception?