Culture and the Condom

Book excerpt: In the last decade of the twentieth century, the «safe sex» message - advocating the use of condoms to prevent pregnancy and curb the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases - has endured relentless attacks by conservative religious groups who seek to instill doubt and promote an abstinence-only theme in American public schools. The essays in this book provide a stimulating historical and cultural inquiry into the multiplicity of meanings attributed to one prophylactic: the condom. Given the vast array of sexual attitudes toward condom usage within American culture and around the world, Culture and the Condom will provoke readers into examining significant dominant discourses and alternative perspectives by viewing condoms through the lens of cinematic and television imagery, artistic representations, statistical analyses, commercial advertising, and animation.