T. liked the story, but she noted the lack of protection as being possibly irresponsible writing on one part, and making her lose the reality of the story on the other -- she thought it was just a little less realistic for not having a condom mentioned. After all, these are intelligent people. I eventually found a nice compromise, a female condom, which involved me not having to make my characters contortionists, but do you think that not mentioning the protection changes whether or not most people would like the story? Is it irresponsible writing for me not to show an example of safe sex?

I'm going to leave it as is, I think, because I like the addition of the female condom if only for the fact that it doesn't intrude in the story, and people really don't often remember that they have that option when having sex. It's a nice reminder.

I've heard opinions both ways now, so I'm opening it up to the larger Internet. Discuss.

With her index finger she should push the inner ring with the pouch up inside the vagina. Thus she should feel her pubic bone by curving the finger towards her front when it is a couple of inches inside of the hole. Due to lubrication the condom is quite slippery.

Moreover, the woman should be very delicate while guiding partner's penis into condom so it couldn't enter the vagina during lovemaking. Right after intercourse the man shouldn't immediately withdrawal his phallus from the woman's vagina.

To remove the female condom from the opening, the outer ring should be attentively squeezed and twisted. The procedure should be done gently so that the leakage of sperm to remain inside the pouch. After delicately pulling the condom out it should be thrown away in a waste container without reusing it.

Although the female condom has been heralded as a way for women to protect themselves from HIV and STI infections, its impact has been severely limited due to several reasons including its design, cost, access, stigma, and lack of political will.

Given the fact that women are the most affected and infected by HIV (in 2007, women represented half of all HIV infections worldwide, and 61% of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa) it is an imperative that evidence-based measures be undertaken to reduce their vulnerability.

The female condom is an essential sexual reproductive health tool that women can control but, disappointingly, it remains confined to the fringes of the response to the global AIDS epidemic.

According to a report by the Center for Health and Gender Equity titled “ Saving Lives Now: Female Condoms and the Role of US Foreign Aid” the US has an important role to play in the procurement, distribution and programming of female condoms.

As a leading provider of funding for HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and care, and reproductive health supplies worldwide, the US can promote the wider use of the female condom, including reducing the cost which is beyond the reach of many of the affected women. 

The report notes that there is little knowledge among policy makers and advocates about what the current US role is and, thus, a lack of understanding of what more the US should do.

“Bureaucratic obstacles, funding restrictions, and a lack of high level commitment to female condoms have significantly hindered the expansion of U.S.-funded female condom distribution efforts,” says the report.

“The U.S. government has no policy guidance encouraging missions or contractors to promote female condoms, which has meant that female condom procurement is dependent on a few field-level champions who are committed to the method,” adds the report.

Currently, international donors and government are investing millions of dollars and energy into promoting initiatives such as male circumcision, and little attention is being paid to promoting female condoms which allow women to initiate protection.

“While the unique nature of female condoms in providing women with their own source of protection should be reason enough for donors and governments to promote the method, female condoms hold other advantages as well. They fill their own niche, as consumers often alternate their use with that of male condoms, thus increasing the total number of protected sex acts,” states the report.

“They can be used by women living with HIV who do not wish to become pregnant, to protect against superinfection and to reduce the chance of HIV transmission to seronegative partners.”

In addition, female condoms also provide an additional option for protection during anal intercourse for men who have sex with men and heterosexuals, says the report.

In spite of the apparent benefits of the female condom, there are still major challenges in promoting its use.

Apart from the fact that female condoms are prohibitively expensive in many parts of the world, users find them noisy, physically unappealing, or difficult to use.

“However, female condoms are a cost-effective mechanism for HIV prevention when measured against thevcosts of potential HIV infections or other HIV prevention mechanisms. Also, as more and more female condoms are produced and purchased, their cost will drop,” states the report.

With greater financial investment and commitment, the design of the female condom can be improved increasing the likelihood of uptake by women.

Furthermore, there is need for educational and social marketing programs aimed at reducing the stigma associated with use of the female condom as well as improving consistent and accurate use.

According to the report, civil society groups can be extremely valuable in developing effective programming because of their access to populations vulnerable to HIV infection and their experience working with these groups.

The report makes the following recommendations to improve US’s role in the distribution and use of female condoms:

• USAID and OGAC should issue policy guidance promoting female condom procurement and programming within US-funded development programs, including PEPFAR. As a signatory of ICPD, the US should promote female condoms as a vital tool to prevent both pregnancy and HIV infection.
• The US should expand technical assistance for female condom logistics and procurement to additional countries to increase HIV prevention efforts.
• The US should apply intensive programming efforts to an additional three countries for scale-up and replication. These efforts could be used to create a more realistic assessment of global female condom needs for scale-up.
• The US should increase HIV prevention efforts by expanding the scope of female and male condom promotion to encompass the general public. Programming for female condoms will depend on each area’s epidemiological profile, and should be free of messages and attitudes that stigmatize condom use.
• The US should invest more funds in female condom promotion and programming. The US should subsidize female condoms for PEPFAR-funded programs.
• At the country level, the US should include civil society, especially women’s health and rights groups, in stakeholder meetings and encourage financing mechanisms that increase government-civil society collaboration in female condom programming.
• Congress should remove all earmarks and funding directives for abstinence-only, abstinence-until-marriage and fidelity prevention programs and fund comprehensive, integrated, and evidence-based HIV prevention programs that include female condoms and that promote and protect women’s health.

The song I've chosen for this post is called "To Be" it was a big hit in Israel last summer and you can still hear it on the radio a few times a week simply because it's a beautiful song. The song is in Hebrew and English - so I think you'll be able to understand what it's about even if you don't understand Hebrew. The Band is called HaBanot Nechama, in Hebrew it means The Nechama Girls. Nechama is a name (for females) in Hebrew, but like all other names in Hebrew it means something, and this name means Comfort. The Girls are: MC Carolina (who writes most of the songs for the band), Yael Dekelbaum and Dana Adini. All three girls have careers out side the band as well - and if you ask me, Yael Dekelbaum is one of the best singers in Israel.

And so the song says: "So Far - You see the sky, you cry, you don't know why..." I think this song is about all these special moments when something excites you and tears of happiness fill your eyes but you are not exactly sure why and what its all about. The stunning sunsets of Tel Aviv beaches can sure do that - Trust me, I know.

Many thanks to Youtube ....

Wonderful Song and Music in Photo Video by HaBanot Nechama from Israel

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Featured links and friends’ posts » A Guide 2 Israel, Burning Man Cat Video, Tel Aviv Travel Guide, Tel Aviv Theaters, Tel Aviv Parks, Tel Aviv Videos
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*This is my second post for the Black blogger call-to-action, Blogging Black To End AIDS. You can find all the posts here.

Here's a round-up of how Black bloggers around the blogosphere called attention to the crisis on World AIDS day.

• Gil Robertson says, "Dear Black America, It's Time to Get Serious About HIV/AIDS"
• Kam, a woman living with AIDS asks, "Can I Forgive?"
• Keith Boykin reflects on the life of poet, Essex Hemphill, who died of AIDS-related complications
• Yobachi Boswell encourages us to view the Frontline/PBS documentary, The Age of AIDS
• I took the Stop AIDS Leadership Pledge. Your turn.
• The African American Political Pundit reflects on the disparities in what we're spending on the war versus what we're spending to fight the AIDS crisis
• Backyard Beacon ponders whether wider availability of the female condom is the key to change

By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR.
New York Times

Published: November 13, 2007

Only about 12 million female condoms are delivered each year in poor countries, compared with about 6 billion male condoms. Couples complained that the female version was awkward, unsightly, noisy and slippery -- or, as Mitchell Warren, who was one of its earliest champions, now says, ''the yuck factor was a problem.'' Many women tried it, but in the end, it was adopted mainly by prostitutes.

Now scientists are trying again. A new design -- much the same at one end, different at the other -- has been developed, and its makers hope it will succeed where its predecessor failed.

''Over 15 years, there's been no real competition, no second-generation product,'' said Michael J. Free, head of technology at PATH, a nonprofit group based in Seattle that did the redesign. ''There's no lack of interest, but we've been stalled.''

However, the new design does not overcome the glaring drawback that doomed the first to be a niche product: it cannot be used secretly. For that reason, married women, now one of the highest risk groups for AIDS in poor countries, rarely use it.

''I don't want my husband to know that I am wearing a condom,'' said Lois B. Chingandu, the director of SAfaids, an anti-AIDS organization in Zimbabwe.

''Condoms are almost undiscussable within a marriage'' in Africa, she added. ''It is something associated with casual sex. If a wife uses a condom, the message is that you have been unfaithful. If she even initiates the discussion, it tips the power scale. Men resist quite a lot, and it can result in violence.''

But for couples who have agreed on condoms, and for sex workers whose clients cooperate, the new design has several advantages.

The redesigned female condom is made of softer, thinner polyurethane to better transmit warmth. It is easier to insert; one end is bunched up as small as a tampon, an improvement on the old design, which resembled the stiff rubber ring of a diaphragm and had to be folded into a figure 8 for insertion.

During sex, the new female condom also moves more like a vagina than the old design did, according to couples in Seattle, Thailand, Mexico and South Africa who tested a series of prototypes, said Joanie Robertson, project manager for the condom at PATH. The old design hung passively from the rubber ring, which could shift around and sometimes hurt; the new design has dots of adhesive foam that adhere to the vaginal walls, expanding with them during arousal.

According to PATH, more than 90 percent of the couples were satisfied with the ease of use and comfort of the new condom, and 98 percent found the sensation of sex to be ''O.K. to very satisfactory.''

Nonetheless, progress is now stalled.

Read more...

  and is a very awesome idea. It is a way for women to take control of protecting themselves against STDs and pregnancy without having to rely on the dude wearing a condom. Sad thing is, they haven't really ever caught on. They are expensive and a bit of a production to get in (akin to inserting a diaphragm) and well, there is a wide ring that hangs on the outside of the body. People also say they are noisy and ugly (but really, moan a little and look your lover in the eyes, people!) and very few are sold in the US each year. What is great about them? For many men who find condoms uncomfortable, chronically  too small or too big, this eliminates those problems. They are made of a non-latex material so that people who have latex allergies are safe (and you can use any kind of lube). And they can make you laugh during sex,  which is always fun.

But the whole point of this is that someone has come up with a  "better" female condom and it is pretty interesting. It looks like this:

And you can read more about it here.

But it doesn't look like it will be available in the US anytime soon, as it costs millions of dollars for FDA approval and no one really wants to invest in it. Or women's sexual health in general, for that matter.

So sad.

xoxox,

searah