When thinking of the month of February, many people visualize Valentine’s Day, Black History Month, or whether it’s a leap year or not. What most people don’t realize is that February is also National Condom Month.
National Condom Week, a week that is celebrated nation wide, is slated to be from Feb. 14 through Feb. 21. What a surprise that Feb. 14 is also put down for National Condom Day. National Condom Weeks are also celebrated in the United Kingdom with the only difference being that their week is different every year while in the United States it is always the same.
When asked if it was surprising that February 14 was National Condom Day and also Valentine’s Day, West Chester senior Sascha Ford said, “I am definitely not surprised that Valentine’s Day is also National Condom Day, but I do agree that it is a great way to remind everyone about safety, especially being that it is February 14.”
National Condom Week emphasizes the use of condoms in a very humorous way. They market slogans such as “Don’t be silly, protect your willy,” “It will be sweeter if you wrap your peter,” and “No glove, No love!”
Students first started the week at University of California-Berkeley in 1978. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, National Condom Week moved from being just a local campus event to one that many different universities, high schools, AIDS and STD organizations, family planning organizations and pharmacies became a part of.
In 1995, Christian Leadership Ministries sponsored a series of advertisements on various college campuses to encourage marriage as the only appropriate arena for sex. They came out with many slogans of their own during Condom Week that year such as, “Who needs a condom when you have a commitment?” and “Love or Latex?”
Most recently, National Condom Week has also included credit card condoms that are a way to prevent unwanted debt. This is a humorous way of taking care of your debt by “practicing safe charging” instead of the traditional condom use of practicing safe sex.
K. Bamforth, a full-time student at Park University in Parkville, Missouri wrote an article entitled “Everything You Need to Know About Condoms.” The article displayed five facts from National Condom Week and a little explanation of each fact. Bamforth’s article mentioned a large study on how “United States consumers now purchase 440 million condoms each year and when used consistently and correctly, condoms can help protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases by up to 98 percent.”
National Condom Week in the United Kingdom is taking place from May 8 until May 13 this year and is sponsored by Durex. Like the United States, the United Kingdom also takes this opportunity to raise awareness of the risks involved with having sex and to reinforce the fact that using a condom is the only way to protect against both unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Durex has sent a series of powerful “Facts booklets” and mini posters to approximately 4,000 health care professionals across the U.K., according to nationalcondomweek.com.
So when you’re out getting those roses and chocolates for your special someone this Valentine’s Day, remember to stop down that condom aisle and pick up a box.
For more information on what West Chester University is doing to support National Condom Month, Week, and Day, go to the Health and Wellness Center located in 202 Wayne Hall.