Condomania Joins the ACLU to Fight the CDA II
LOS ANGELES (October 22, 1998) — Since its inception, Condomania (www.condomania.com) has been committed to safer sex outreach and education, and has in fact been widely credited for helping to increase the American public's awareness on these life-threatening issues. Condomania's hip, casual atmosphere, both in its stores and more recently online through its web site has been particularly popular with young people. Condomania's approach to safer sex education and the availability of quality safer sex products have successfully broken down barriers and helped thousands of people - teenagers included - to learn how to best protect themselves and the people they love.
Condomania receives regular commendations from parents of minors, who bring their children to the stores and order materials and products from Condomania's web site for them. Parents frequently tell us how much easier we have made it for them to broach the difficult subject of safer sex with their teenagers.
Even more importantly, Condomania serves as an informal crisis hotline, via its 800 number and especially its web site, answering questions on a daily basis from teens and adults regarding safer sex issues. For example, one 15 year old recently e-mailed Condomania asking for advice on how to handle her 17 year old boyfriend's pressure to have sex. The girl indicated that she did not feel ready, and was afraid. Condomania was able to urge her to wait until she felt comfortable, made suggestions on what she could say to her boyfriend, and above all, urged her to respect her own feelings and to practice safer sex when
she was ultimately ready. E-mails like this arrive almost daily due to Condomania's significant presence on the World Wide Web.
The value of the information and resources Condomania provides cannot be underestimated:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics has reported that the number of HIV infected teenagers in the U.S. doubles every fourteen months.
- According to the World Health Organization, half of all HIV infections worldwide occur between the ages of 15 and 19.
- And the United Nations has reported that 1 in every 100 sexually active adults (ages 15-49) worldwide is infected with HIV yet only one in 10 knows he/she is infected.
While people may giggle about our subject matter and we like to have a sense of humor too, the bottom line is that Condomania has helped to save lives.
Censorship or restricted access to the invaluable information and products we provide could have devastating effects. While many parents of minors support what we do, Condomania is perhaps that much more important for the minors who cannot talk about safer sex issues with their parents. We are committed to keeping these lines of communication open to the people who most need us. We are honored to participate in this litigation with the ACLU.
America's first condom store, Condomania now operates two retail stores located in Los Angeles and New York, a mail order division accessible by calling 1-800-9CONDOM and the premiere web site on the Internet for condoms and safer sex, www.condomania.com. Condomania focuses on assisting customers of every sex, age, culture and sexual orientation in the purchase of condoms and safer-sex products. Condomania features more than 300 condoms from around the world, as well as scores of gift and novelty items.
[Press Releases] Posted by filchyboy at October 22, 1998 12:00 PM
