[Dash of SAS] Using sex to sell sex

Ana P. Santos

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'Sex is used to sell everything from a holiday destination to ice cream. Why can’t we use sex to sell and promote safer sex?'

At an HIV & AIDS conference in Barcelona, Anne Philpott, a public health specialist, found herself lost in the discussion on “receptive cavity” and the “insertive probe.”

It took Philpott awhile to realize that the speaker was actually referring to the vagina as the “receptive cavity” and the penis as the “insertive probe.”

“It’s all this hygienic language,” Philpott told me, that poses as one of the barriers in addressing sexually transmitted infections, particularly HIV.

What does it say when the public health specialist has to walk on eggshells,  speaking about sexual organs in a way that is equivalent to gingerly holding it with a 10-foot pole?

“The public health response to sexually transmitted infections, particularly HIV, has been and continues to be overwhelmingly focused on risk, disease and negative outcomes of sex, while avoiding discussion of positive motivations for sex like pleasure, desire, and love,” Philpott wrote in a research paper, Strange Bedfellows: Bridging the worlds of academia, public health and the sex industry to improve sexual health outcomes.

The Barcelona conference was a turning point for Philpott who realized that in the discussion of sexual health, most everything was discussed except, well, sex and the main reason people have it: pleasure.

That AHA! moment spurred Philpott to put up The Pleasure Project and seek out other pleasure activists who shared in her vision of “eroticizing safer sex.”

“Sex is used to sell everything from a holiday destination to ice cream. Why can’t we use sex to ‘sell’ and promote safer sex?” Philpott asked, posing the rhetorical question at me during one Skype session.

Since Philpott arrived at her Eureka movement (the equivalent perhaps of a cerebral orgasm), the Pleasure Project has found other pleasure activists around the world and produced The Global Mapping of Pleasure, a directory of organizations, programs, media and people who eroticize safer sex.

Philpott has also worked as a consultant on adult films, finding ways of incorporating proper condom use into the storyline. “For many people, porn is [used/viewed as] sex education. Why not use porn to teach safer sex and condom use?”

Next generation intervention

There have been other interventions that have moved from scare tactics to using innovation and technology/social media as platforms to communicate and promote safer sex behavior.

Last March, Bill Gates announced that he is offering US$100,000 as a start up grant to the person who designs “the next generation condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure.” Gates cited preserving pleasure as a factor that would promote regular use of condoms.

At the Women Deliver maternal health global conference last May, a new initiative called It Takes Two was launched. It Takes Two has a number of components aimed at promoting family planning and safer sex among the youth, including a “Design Your Own Condom Wrapper” contest.

Participants can design their own condom wrappers and US residents who participate will be put in a draw to win tickets to concerts from over 70 famous artists as part of the Two Tickets campaign.

Ten designs will be chosen and will receive free custom-made condoms while non-winning entries will be profiled in the site’s condom gallery.

Victoria’s Secret supermodel Erin Heatherton, ambassador of the It Takes Two, spoke at the Women Deliver launch of the project, calling on the youth to take an active part in family planning/contraception and planning their future.

“This [family planning] is an issue that affects men and women everywhere. Everyone should have the option to plan a family, and their choices shouldn’t be limited because of their socio-economic level or country of residence.”

Speaking as someone who has a collection on condom packs from various souvenir shops and conferences, I can say that having a witty and fun design on a condom takes away the stigma oftentimes associated with its use. I particularly like these girl power condom packs I found – guess where – in Indonesia. Wouldn’t that look just great in my kikay kit next to my compact?

CUSTOM-DESIGNED CONDOMS. Girl power or witty? Take your pick (From the private collection of Ana Santos. Photo by Mark Demayo

Safer sex

We already know from a cacophony of sights and sounds around us that sex is pleasurable. If we were also told that safer sex were just as pleasurable because it liberates you from the worry of STIs, mistimed pregnancies and other hassles, wouldn’t you want to slip on a condom, too?

After all, in answer to the quintessential question I am asked, “How can I be good in bed?” I always say, “Put on a condom.”

Correctly, consistently and before any penetration takes place, I might add, and you’ll have the best sex you’ve ever had.

In international development parlance, some sources use the term safer sex to reflect the fact that the use of barrier/contraception methods such as condoms reduce, but do not completely eliminate, the risk of STI transmission. – Rappler.com

 

From starting out as a sex and relationship columnist in a men’s magazine, Ana P. Santos has moved on — or grown up — to be an award-winning public health journalist. Her series of reports on HIV and AIDS published in Newsbreak was named Runner Up for Best Investigative Report in the 2011 PopDev Media Awards. However, Ana considers being able to tell her mother that she has made a career for herself in sex, without engaging in (commercial) porn her greatest achievement. Read more of her work on www.sexandsensibilities.com (SAS) or follow her on Twitter at @iamAnaSantos.

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Ana P. Santos

Ana P. Santos is an investigative journalist who specializes in reporting on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and migrant worker rights.