Great news out of Israel – that male contraceptive pill that they’ve been promising for the last 40-odd years may be only three years away thanks to breakthrough new research — not to be confused with any of the other breakthrough research that they’ve been reporting for the last 40-odd years. Because, as New Zealand Herald reporter Shelley Bridgeman points out, they promised in 2000 that the male pill would be ready …
With a $500,000 grant from the M.A.C. AIDS fund, Washington health officials decided to flood their region with a less ubiquitous type of condom — the female kind. CNN reported that a “newly released [female condom], called FC2, is cheaper and designed to be more user-friendly, but the female condom is still relatively unknown.” Now available for free at select D.C. salons, college campuses, and community centers, doctors and activists are hoping to see that change.
As we’ve discussed on Zelda Lily before, the HIV infection rate in Washington D.C. is sky-high — and 30% of those infected in the nation’s capitol are women. According to CNN, “HIV is particularly prevalent among African-Americans, and more black women between 25 and 34 will die from HIV/AIDS nationwide than from any other cause.”
Shannon Hader, senior deputy director of the district’s Department of Health, doesn’t think women have an adequate understanding of the menace of HIV infection:
Women haven’t really gotten the message that they’re at risk … So we are very, very concerned with making sure that women in the district realize that HIV, in fact, is a woman’s disease too.
Along with the purchase and distribution of female condoms, the city has also seen that trained outreach workers go out with the prophylactics. One outreach worker, Charlene Cotton, felt compelled to join the cause after she discovered she was HIV-positive:
It will give a woman a choice, freedom to use protection when a man feels as though that he doesn’t have to use a condom … it gives her the opportunity to say, ‘Well you don’t have to use one, so I’ll use one.’
This past week’s events, collectively known as “Sex Week” at Yale University, had a lot of positive response from its attendees. The event’s main speaker was Maryann Abbott, who is a project director for the Multi-Level Female Condom Project at the Institute for Community Research and a colleague, Mary Price, was another key speaker who discussed the topics of Female Condom use.
Abbott stated sobering statistics: women are far likelier to become infected with a sexually-transmitted disease (most notably HIV/AIDS). Her main aim this past week was to educate women on the options that they, as women, could take upon themselves to utilize in order to do their part in preventing disease.
The use of microbicides to synonymously attempt to eradicate STIs along with standard prophylactics turned out to be a hot topic. microbicides, if you’re unaware, can be an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, or an antibiotic compound and can be used for varying reasons — now, most notably, HIV prevention. While trials are still ongoing, scientists believe that certain microbicides can and will be available to the public as an option to combat sexually-transmitted infections. The most recent studies show that microbicides are approximately thirty percent effective.
The Female Condom 1 and 2 were also discussed. Most attendees stated that they had, indeed, used the female condom and were impressed with the results of the FC2 as opposed to the FC1. Women stated that the FC2 had a less invasive squeaking noise and was more comfortable to wear. The Female Condom’s second edition can also be inserted into the vagina up to eight hours prior to intercourse. Mary Price states that many men don’t even “notice” the inserted polyurethane-type condom.
Price also stated that awareness on the topic of Female Condom use is a necessity and claims her aim is to supply education and “provide alternatives for women who cannot convince their partners to wear a condom.” … And at that I cringe. What the hell is a woman doing with a partner who refuses to wear a condom upon her request? While it’s evident that such things happen, this is a women’s awareness conference — shouldn’t a little feminism be injected into this particular agenda, or hell, even a little more self-awareness in a relationship role?
Regardless, I think it’s a fabulous thing that discussions such as these are upheld and revered in the public arena and that this information is readily available to women (and men) in every varying circumstance. While I’m sure Yale U made it a priority to educate their student body on the varying degrees of personal, sexual protection, I can also appreciate the fact that they’ve also made it a personal goal to inform people at disadvantages about sex ed and make them privy to this information as well. Seems like Yale’s got a nice, well-rounded lot of information that could definitely be of some use to the public — namely women. Sex Week was open to the public as of this past Friday and will remain in session until Sunday, February 14th — appropriately Valentine’s Day.
Which is a good thing, because it means they’re making (some) money!
The Female Health Company, maker of the latest and greatest female condom, FC2, has announced that a five cent dividend will be released to its shareholders. The dividend, announced today, is not large but if you know anything about finance and investing, you’ll have the impression that they’re making money — even if it’s in bits and pieces — enough to return to their investors! The Female Health Company can be found on the major exchanges and as of January 15th, 2010, the closing price on the stock was $4.72 per share. Almost beats the white out of market-monster AIG’s 52-week-low price of $6.60, which was approximately a year ago at this time. Point: if AIG can rebound over twenty dollars per share in one year in this economy, imagine what the FC2′s parent company can do in a year’s time, too! It’s all about the awareness, people.
What does this mean for women? That this very awareness of the availability of FC2 is on the rise and that women are taking matters into their own hands and protecting the most sacred thing of all: themselves.
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