Planned Parenthood’s Proper Attire condoms have been around for a couple months, but I haven’t really talked about the concept of high-class birth control yet. I’m all for anything that encourages protected sex, but I do have some issues with this campaign.
Proper Attire condoms were launched just this January and are marketed specifically to fashionable females. Their packaging is stylish and feminine and is supposed to combat the stigma that surrounds buying condoms. I’d rather see girls that know they shouldn’t be embarrassed by their decision to be safe, but this is a start. Proper Attire condoms cost about twice as much as my usual selection and are available at upscale hotels and boutiques in New York and selected Planned Parenthood centers. They’re cute and the “required for entry” tagline is funny, and I really hope they encourage girls (and guys) to be safe if they’re going to have sex. As I see it, though, having safe sex is super-chic in and of itself, no matter what the condom wrapper looks like.
I generally like Planned Parenthood a lot, and they do a good job of educating and providing resources to a wide range of races and classes, but this new line of condoms really makes me wish they would make a more concerted effort to encourage lower- rather than upper-class people to use birth control. Unwanted pregnancies and STDs are more common among and more costly to this demographic and I think the money and effort spent here would go a much longer way.
I think you’re right about the need to market birth control to lower class individuals, but what’s an effective way to do so?
Apparently, proceeds from the sale of these Proper Attire condoms go towards Planned Parenthood. Hopefully that’s why they’re so much more expensive. If not, these girls are pretentious idiots buying these condoms. Why would you pay extra money for the part you’re going to tear open and throw away?
I wonder if it’s a lack of sexual education that beings about these feelings of embarrassment when buying condoms; I was always taught the abstinence-only bullshit in health classes, in which birth control isn’t a viable option and that’s the worst teaching method possible, as it’s so unrealistic. Maybe if kids are taught that it’s okay to use condoms and birth control, that embarrassing stigma will decrease. Thoughts?
Good point that these condoms are used to fund other Planned Parenthood programs. That they’re only allowed to be sold in “high-end boutique shops and exclusive hotels” is really much worse than the price.
I think a lot of kids learn that it’s ok to use condoms, but usually not in school, like you said. Planned Parenthood is sometimes demonized, but they’re the best around for saying, hey, safe sex is great. The best thing that we could do right now is abandon abstinence-only education, and some communities have moved and are moving in that direction. On a larger scale though, I still think it has to happen soon, given the evidence that is building up against abstinence-only.