Yesterday there was a huge condom fashion show at a Beijing expo sponsored by China's largest condom maker. (Apparently there's a whole crafting subculture devoted to making dresses out of prophylactics. Who knew?)
Condoms could really use the publicity in China. People may be sporting them as outrageous eveningwear, but not many are using them during sex:
Gao [Ersheng of Shanghai Family Planning Institute] believes no more than half of Chinese youngsters use condoms -- or any precautions at all -- during first-time sex, according to China Daily.Based on an earlier national survey in China, only a quarter of those having premarital sex for the first time used a condom. "Many youngsters believe their sex partners won't have a sexually transmitted disease," Gao told China Daily, "and abortion seems easy -- you hear commercials for 'painless abortions' quite often."
This is the sort of thing the forced-pregnancy movement is always saying U.S. pro-choicers are after. You know, a world in which youngsters are having all sorts of sex and then learning on TV about how quick 'n' painless abortions are. But in reality, despite the availability of abortion, not a single person I know considers China pro-choice country. Without widespread information about and access to contraception, it's just a country with a high abortion rate. Which is different from one that truly values reproductive health and freedom.
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Well, that is one nation not afraid to say the C word...
Did anyone else see that dress and immediately think "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert presents..."?
Erm. Ahem. Yes, obviously, encouraging condom use is good. I've heard HIV/AIDS is starting to become a large problem in China, much for the same reasons. That and the government's constant underreporting of the problem. I still don't see how women dressed entirely in condoms, however neat looking, will change much.
I'm all for promoting condom use. The country is changing economically and socially (a little bit at least). People's attitudes towards sex is changing. So there of course needs to be available information about how to protect themselves. As well as how to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
I once made a whip out of condoms..
not a single person I know considers China pro-choice country
That's because, except with their first children, having the baby is not a choice Chinese women have.
These fashion designers are very confused. It's men who are supposed to wear condoms.
This dress would be much more stylish if condoms came in non-pastels. As is, I could not possibly contemplate wearing these things.
Fortunately, I am not a man.
i quite like that dress.
EG: i believe that pastels are simply the designer's choice for that piece. condoms come in dozens of colors!
and now I'm off to make a swimsuit out of dental dams.
Oh goodness... I was scrolling down the page with increasing misery and dread. When I stopped to look at that picture, it took me a moment, even after reading the title, but i have to say... I really needed that.
Economies are divided into sectors depending on distance from the natural environment. The first extracts resources, the second manufactures finished goods, the third, or tertiary, provides services, often using those produced goods, and the fourth, or quaternary, consists of intellectual activities associated with government, culture, scientific research, education and information technology.
Some consider the fifth, or quinary, sector as a branch of the fourth, including the highest levels of decision-making in a society or economy. This sector would include the top executives or strategic officials in such fields as government, science, universities, business, the non-profit world, healthcare, culture and the media.