With Bill Gates's recent foray into looking for ways to build a better condom, it looks like one company may be taking a novel approach to safer sexual practices.

Origami Condoms is looking to create a condom specifically designed for use in anal sex. In this case, it is the person on the receiving end who wears the condom.

As the NSFW video above demonstrates, the condom is inserted into the rectum, in a similar fashion as female condoms are used. One of the issues with regular condoms is that they can break more easily than during vaginal or oral intercourse, and durability, comfort and sensitivity all come into play. According to the website, the "insertive partner does not need to wear a condom, thus creating an experience closer to ‘sex without a condom.’" The condom is also made from silicone, rather than latex. The condom is scheduled to be available by 2015.

The company is also looking to fund its production through Indiegogo, starting tomorrow. So stay tuned.

When you think of Bill Gates, you probably think of computers and of a vaguely nerdy guy in glasses.

Gates, however, would rather that you think about condoms.

Image via Tumblr

Gates works with Grand Challenges in Global Health, an organization that provides grants for projects that "can radically improve health in the developing world."

Keeping in mind that formula, Grand Challenges would like someone out there to create a better condom. 

From the website:

The one major drawback to more universal use of male condoms is the lack of perceived incentive for consistent use. The primary drawback from the male perspective is that condoms decrease pleasure as compared to no condom, creating a trade-off that many men find unacceptable, particularly given that the decisions about use must be made just prior to intercourse.  Is it possible to develop a product without this stigma, or better, one that is felt to enhance pleasure?  If so, would such a product lead to substantial benefits for global health, both in terms of reducing the incidence of unplanned pregnancies and in prevention of infection with HIV or other STIs?

 

Although Grand Challenges is focused on situations in the developing world, the impact of such a product could have global positive implications.

Reading that description reminded me of a discussion I once had with a public-health nurse. She and I were discussing the fact that there had been reports that condom use was down amongst gay men and men who have sex with men. One of the comments she says she hears is that men find condoms uncomfortable. She would often decry this statement by saying that she can blow up a condom and put her whole hand in it. "Sure," I countered, "but it's not comfortable around your wrist, now is it?"

As the site says, "Condoms have been in use for about 400 years yet they have undergone very little technological improvement in the past 50 years."

I don't think this is a question of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." 

In this case, it isn't broken, but it isn't perfect. 

 

 

After yesterday's blog post and op-ed on sexual health, I thought it might be a good time to include a few stories about sexual health.

- The Chronicle Herald talks about oral sex.

- Capital Health, HRM's health provider, also posted an interesting piece, titled "Helluva Lot of Unsafe Sex in Halifax," discussing how public health is looking at the situation.

- And The Atlantic looks at the recent talk around HIV "cures" and what "functionally cured" means in today's medical world.

PrideHealth is looking for your help, and all you have to do is tell them where you like to drink.

The Capital District Health Authority (CDHA)’s public health unit, along with the provincial Department of Health and Wellness, are looking to launch an education campaign related to the ongoing syphilis outbreak among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Halifax.

The campaign’s main target will be online advertising, but posters in various drinking establishments are a key component of the campaign. That's where you come in.

PrideHealth is asking MSM to tell them their top five bars in Halifax. In fact, anywhere alcohol is served -- pubs, clubs, lounges and more.

"We want the campaign to reach as many guys as possible, so we want to know, 'Where do you and your friends go to socialize,'" says Kirk Furlotte, prideHealth's health-promotion intern. Furlotte mentions that they are looking for bars that may not be viewed as strictly gay or queer spaces, such as Menz & Mollyz, Reflections or Seadogs. "We’re already planning to go there," he says. He also points out that individuals who participate don’t need to list five bars. "Even one or two would be helpful."

As for privacy, Furlotte assures that your name and personal responses won't be shared and will be deleted once all the information has been gathered. He notes that not every bar that is suggested will be guaranteed to be a part of this campaign.

Send your results to kirk.furlotte@cdha.nshealth.ca with your top five bars. If you’d like to know the final results, mention that as well.

 

This edition of The Reading List is all about sexual health.

- If you haven't had the chance, check out Xtra's recent coverage on sexual health issues. Nancy Irwin wrote a great piece on the rise of syphilis amongst men who have sex with men.

Syphillis bacterium

- Andrea Houston reports on the rise of STI infections in large urban centres in Ontario.  

- Over at The Atlantic, Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, looks at a recent report by the United Nations looking to repeal health practices such as "genital normalizing therapies" for individuals born with genitals that are sexually atypical. Read it.

- And if you're interested in healthcare practices and issues, prideHealth is holding a Trans* Community Forum next week. In partnership with the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health (CPATH), prideHealth is hosting a discussion on ways to expand access to healthcare for the trans community. The event happens March 6 in the Parker Reception Room at the IWK. For more information, contact prideHealth at 902-473-1433 or pridehealth@cdha.nshealth.ca.

The Canadian Federation for Sexual Health wants you to Heart Your Parts.

According to its website, Heart Your Parts "is about recognizing the importance of your sexual health as part of your overall well being, and working together to build a stronger culture of healthier and happier sex-positive individuals engaging in healthy sexual behaviours."

The CFSH has created a video campaign and contest where people from across the country have contributed short films, and it has been narrowed down to five entries. One of them was created by two Haligonians, Owen Ross and Adam Myatt. Check it out, and don't forget to click "like" on YouTube.

On Friday, I read a short blog on The Guardian’s website written by a public health nurse and titled “What I’m Thinking: The Sexual Health Nurse.” The anonymous author wrote:

“I recently treated a hepatitis B sufferer who needed an injection. He was a guy in scruffy clothes; underneath he wore women's underwear. I didn't raise an eyebrow. That is my job – the nonjudgmental holder of people's sexual secrets.”

A few days later, a news release from the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that a study put out by Public Health Ontario had found that nearly seven percent of all cases of gonorrhea did not respond to traditional antibiotic treatments.

Although this may be news to many, the fact that we may be entering an age where traditional pharmacological treatments are no longer effective is not news to epidemiologists, public health officials or microbiologists.

The bacteria that cause gonorrhea are showing resistance to cephalosporin, a class of antiobiotics used to treat the disease. In February of 2012, The Atlantic’s Megan McArdle wrote about drug-resistant sexually transmitted infections, noting that even the CDC believes that antibiotic-resistant STIs are on their way.

Both articles got me thinking about how we promote information about sexual health.

Talk to people in public health, specifically sexual health, and they will tell you that one of the hardest things they face is reaching out to certain communities, such as men who have sex with men. Traditionally, the most effective way to disseminate information to men who have sex with men (including gay men, bisexual men, men who identify as straight but have occasional sex with other men, and men who do not identify sexual contact with other men as being sex) was through postering, pamphlets and occasional face-to-face communication in areas where they congregated: gay bars, bathhouses, etc. These were often places where sex would happen, or preludes to sex would come to pass.

But today, preludes to sexual contact between men who have sex with men are becoming increasingly virtual. Online personal ads and phone apps have removed the physical spaces that could be occupied and have information available to those who wanted it. You would pass by a poster on a wall or someone would hand you a free condom with a pamphlet.

It’s not the same anymore. Occupying a virtual space is not as effective as occupying a real one. The onus is on the other person to click on your ad/profile/etc to actively read and absorb the information that would’ve otherwise been gathered through other means. It’s looking for active participation in what was previously a much more passive way of spreading information.

It's not an easy job. And kudos to the people who work at it. 

*

A few months ago, I found myself having a discussion with a friend who is a high-school teacher. We discussed how teenagers are taught about sex, but only from a reproductive aspect. I likened it to teaching someone how to drive by explaining the inner workings of the car but not telling them how to drive, how to put the key in the ignition and least of all, telling them how to take care of the car.

“Or how to deal with what happens if you scratch the car,” he continued.

We don't teach kids how to keep their cars in tune. How can we expect them -- when they become more experienced drivers -- to know how to talk to their mechanics, let alone feel comfortable in doing so?

An old activist friend of mine once said to me, "If you can't talk about sex, then maybe you shouldn't be having it." As old-fashioned as that may sound, it does ring somewhat true. So how do we talk about sex? How do we talk about all the things around it? 

The answer: we do just that. Talk.

In as many ways, in as many places as we can.   

 

This morning, CBC's Nova Scotia website reported about a recent upswing in cases of syphilis.

The article states that 47 men in the HRM have tested positive this year, up from 35 last year. The story also discusses how many of the men who tested positive often met other men online. Holly D'Angelo-Scott, a senior epidemiologist at Capital Health told the CBC that "when we look to see the connections between cases, a lot of our cases are meeting their sexual partners through the internet. That's probably a common link between some of the cases."

It's a tricky business to talk about sexual health to the masses, especially when you're hoping to reach certain demographics -- in this case, men who have sex with men. It can be tricky with men who have sex with men (MSM) because you're dealing with a population that doesn't always want to be identified, or even identifies with that moniker.

Let's say you're a straight-identified, married man named X. To X, sex is what he does with his wife/girlfriend/et cetera. He loves her and enjoys having sex with her. Sex involves very specific forms of physical intimacy with that one person. But X also happens to occasionally meet certain men to do certain things. It could be in public places, it could be online, it could be in a bathhouse. For X, what happens in those locations and in those times may not be viewed as sex, because it isn't the same forms of physical intimacy that he engages with his wife/girlfriend/et cetera. So when a local news source posts a story about a recent upswing in STI rates amongst MSM, it doesn't faze him, because it doesn't affect him. He doesn't think what he's doing is having sex with men.

So how do you reach X? How do you reach a population that doesn't want to be identified or outed?

At this stage in the game, the best way to do this is to use broad strokes when talking to the public.

The CBC story never uses any terminology that denotes sexual orientation in its description of the men. It does, however, indicate that "all the 115 confirmed syphilis cases since that time have been men" and includes a quote from a Capital Health staffer: "It is possible that there will be a progression from this population of men who have sex with men to women." Here, they are talking about X. They are talking to X. And hopefully X will get the message.

This is not to say that X is emblematic of every MSM who doesn't want to be identified. X may be closeted. X may have myriad reasons for not wanting to be counted amongst MSM. Those reasons are X's alone. But X is amongst the population of MSM. 

I am amongst that population. And I have many friends, as well as current and former lovers, who are as well.

It doesn't matter what the STI is or how and when a person may or may not contract it. What matters is getting the information out there without a heavy-handed message or propagandist polemic. And I take it as my personal responsibility to share that information with as many people as possible. With friends, colleagues, internet followers and more. Because it's an important story. It's a story about your -- and everyone's -- health.

 

 

 

We've all been there. You get on a plane, sit down and listen to the announcements. Please wear your seatbelts, no smoking, an oxygen mask, inflate this, blah blah.

But what you don't expect to hear is, "Here's how to put on a condom."

In a time when advertising dollars are being pushed into new and more interactive ways, Durex Poland found a way to make their skies perhaps a bit more friendly. They shot the advertisement on a commercial flight in Poland, planting condoms in the airplane for everyone to try out and learn how to put on, with wryly smiling stewardesses educating the masses.

Guerilla/viral marketing at its smartest and sexiest.

On Monday's episode of Anderson Cooper's eponymously titled talk show, the CNN and occasional 60 Minutes reporter interviewed Cyrus Sullivan.

Sullivan operates a site called STD Carriers (note: since his appearance on Anderson, I have had some difficulty accessing the site, no doubt due to bandwith issues on their end), which is a user-generated site/forum where people can post names and images of individuals they claim have various STIs, from herpes to HIV. Sullivan uses himself as an example of someone who has been victimized by someone who did not disclose the full extent of their sexual health, as he once dated a girl who had herpes. He has been quoted as saying:

It was based on a personal experience. I was dating some chick during college who didn't disclose to me that she had herpes. I was kind of upset about that, and I kind of created the site and put her on there as kind of like, the first person. It kind of made me look like I was looking for revenge, but I actually wasn't doing it for revenge.

I don't know Sullivan, or the person who purportedly gave him herpes. I don't know the extent of his relationship with this individual. But this all just feels a little bit like the "Burn Book" from Mean Girls.

As for Sullivan, he simply passes the buck, saying that he is not responsible for the content placed on his site, since he didn't put it there. However, he does offer to remove the information, with proof of negative test results. And for $1,000, he will also help you, using his other business, "clean up" your online search results. However, this may not help, because we all know that the internet is kinda forever (Google Cache, anyone?) but he defends himself from this by saying, "If somebody's on it, and I remove it, it's going to disappear eventually — unless some other people decide to search engine copy and post links to it."

Oh, and did I mention he also sells T-shirts on his site? Or the fact that he uses a biohazard sign when you use his search engine while you wait to see search results?

When I was single, I would treat any sexual partner as a possible risk. As a cisgendered gay male living in the 21st century, there are a number of sexually transmitted infections a person can get from various acts. You can minimize (not eliminate) those risks by choosing to do or not do certain sexual acts. You can wear condoms to lower the risk of HIV transmission, but that doesn't eliminate the risk of infections that are obtained through skin-on-skin contact. Or you can choose to only have oral sex, but you can still contract various STIs in your throat if you choose to do so without a condom. I accepted those risks every time I had sexual contact with another person.

Disclosure, especially when it comes to one's sexual health, is a very difficult thing to do. It's also a touchy subject in Canada, when nondisclosure can even be viewed as a criminal activity. To come out and say that you are HIV-positive, or have herpes or HPV or hep C, can affect a person's life in all sorts of ways. I can't speak to those effects on a personal level, as I have not had to deal with those things. But I have received calls and had conversations with individuals who disclosed to me that they had tested positive for various STIs, and I have had those conversations with other people as well. But these conversations are private matters.

We as a society shame individuals who have STIs. Sullivan's site is nothing more than a sexual witch hunt, all in the name of "protecting" people and "providing a service." It seeks to shame people who have next to no way to defend themselves. And on top of it, Sullivan is profiting from the shaming of the individuals who are listed on his site.

There's only one person here who should be ashamed, and that's Cyrus Sullivan.