Last week the #tweet4condoms trend started after Twitter's decision of censoring condoms' ads. Here we are again, people have problems in finding a common ground when it comes to talk about sex in front of a wide audience.
From the ‘conservative' point of view, children seeing the ad of a condom will be traumatized and deviated, since it's really wrong to think about sexuality when you're too young. The fear then becomes terror as soon as you imagine your child asking you "Mom, dad, what is a condom? How does it work?"
From the activist point of view, obviously, condom ads are more like a public service announcement rather than the mere communication of a product. Condoms are useful and safe sex is a way to keep you healthy, we aren't talking about ads of escorts, blowing dolls, dildos and so forth.
Do young people really need to know from the very beginning everything about kinky sex, poppers and fetishism? Sure they don't, even though we know that curious youngsters are pretty good in getting information if they want to know more about something.
On the other hand, condoms are quite an exception, they are pretty different from the rest of sexy props available on the market.
Condom use isn't just about sex, even if you (should) use them only while you're having sex. The value of an object like a condom has in fact a wider impact on the set of values and morals of people. Condom use is an issue that involves a more complex structure of principles, like respect, prevention, honesty, self-awareness and sense of independence. What's the way parents should talk about all these other values to their children? You never learn a definitive lesson about them but living in a society makes you facing these problems constantly, from when you're a child to your adulthood. It's especially for this reason that I think that condoms are actually a good way to start serious and constructive conversations between parents and children. There's also a big chance that, between the two, parents are those who will learn the most.
DAA will obviously #tweet4condoms today and in the future too, you know that already. Don't be ashamed of sexuality, don't censorthose who talk about sex to make a better society, we were born as sexual creatures, ignoring this fact won't make this world a better place. Sign the petition to end this Twitter restriction