Miss Universe hopefuls’ promiscuous ‘Condom Olympics’ comes under fire
By ANISaturday, August 29, 2009
WASHINGTON - It has been revealed that Miss Universe hopefuls had teamed up with AIDS prevention group Population Services International (PSI) to stage a “Condom Olympics” at the recent pageant in the Bahamas to bring about AIDS awareness.
But questions have risen as to whether the demonstration was more about product placement and promoting promiscuity than AIDS prevention.
Contestants such as Miss Australia Rachael Finch and Miss USA Kristen Dalton took part in testing the condom’s limits by blowing them up until they burst.
They even filled them with water and learned how to conduct condom demonstration correctly, with just one “game” mentioning abstinence as a means to avoid AIDS.
“In preparation for the new Miss Universe to become an Ambassador for Youth AIDS and in the hopes that the contestants would return to their countries inspired to support HIV/AIDS initiatives, the contestants participated in an hour long peer education session,” Fox News quoted a rep from PSI as saying in a statement.
“The session consisted of a discussion on HIV/AIDS and several peer education activities that are actually employed by our programs in the field. Often times, target populations are illiterate or of low literacy and we need to find ways to reach them through engaging activities that don’t rely on written materials.
“What we have learned is that youth more actively listen to their peers and role models, so we centre our activities through peer education and deliver messages of prevention through role models like the Miss Universe contestants.
“The winner and the remaining contestants have a unique opportunity to help reduce stigma, educate at-risk populations and empower youth and women to practice abstinence, to delay the first sexual debut, and if sexually active, remain faithful,” the rep stated.
The role of Miss Universe is to champion AIDS/HIV awareness and in March the Miss Universe Organization officially partnered with PSI, which promotes itself as a world leader in HIV prevention and education.
PSI was actually founded by Phil Harvey, who is also President of Adam and Eve, the largest mail-order sex toy/pornography business in the country.
“The idea that playing games in order to spread HIV awareness is absurd. Millions all over the world are dying from this pandemic and the ‘Condom Olympics’ in no way emphasizes the severity of this issue which, by the way, is completely preventable,” Alyssa Cordova of the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, which prepares and promotes conservative women, said.
“HIV doesn’t just happen; it’s caused by irresponsible behaviour like sharing needles and engaging in sexually promiscuous behaviour.
“Playing right into our culture’s obsession with political correctness, the Miss Universe organization downplays the only thing that prevents the spread and contraction of HIV that is 100 percent effective-abstinence-and perpetuates the lie that if you use a condom everything will be ok,” she stated.
Cordova was also disturbed by the fact that PSI felt that “abstinence is not the right message” for some people.
“Apparently Miss Universe and PSI believe that some of us are so barbaric that it’s not even worth sharing the message. Not only is that insulting, it’s dangerous and irresponsible,” she added. (ANI)
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August 29, 2009: 6:37 pm
HIV/AIDS is the official cause of the Miss Universe Pageant. PSI, through it’s initiative, YouthAIDS, is an official partner of the Miss Universe Pageant. The partnership is a meaningful one in that HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects girls and women around the world, the winner and the remaining contestants have a unique opportunity to help reduce stigma, educate at-risk populations and empower youth and women to practice abstinence, to delay the first sexual debut, and if sexually active, remain faithful within relationship and use condoms correctly and consistently. HIV greatly affects girls and women due to gender inequality, child marriage, rape and sexual violence, poverty, lack of education, transactional sex and commercial sex work - into which many girls and women have been trafficked or sold or practice out of desperation. In some countries, married women are among those at greatest risk, due to culturally accepted infidelity of their husbands. PSI’s goal is to provide the world’s most vulnerable with HIV education and prevention information and to empower them to make better and informed decisions about their health and the health of their loved ones. With no cure, education and prevention are our best weapons against HIV. In preparation for the new Miss Universe to become an Ambassador for YouthAIDS and in the hopes that the contestants would return to their countries inspired to support HIV/AIDS initiatives, the contestants participated in an hour long peer education session. The session consisted of a discussion on HIV/AIDS and several peer education activities that are actually employed by our programs in the field. Often times, target populations are illiterate or of low literacy and we need to find ways to reach them through engaging activities that don’t rely on written materials. What we have learned is that youth more actively listen to their peers and role models, so we center our activities through peer education and deliver messages of prevention through role models like the Miss Universe contestants. In the first activity, “Wild Fire”, contestants were asked to write their names on pieces of paper held by other girls. What the contestants didn’t know is that every signature represents a sexual interaction. Names written on specific colored pieces of paper represent sexually transmitted infections and possibly HIV. The lesson of the game was to underscore that each sexual interaction represents risk for you and for anyone else you may be with or have been with. It reinforces abstinence, delayed sexual debut and if sexually active - mutual fidelity. One way in which HIV spreads rapidly is through multiple concurrent relationships, so the message of fidelity is a very important one. The “Condom Olympics” activity was developed to reinforce correct and consistent condom use. The participants had to open a condom, and blow it up until it burst. The activity demonstrates condom strength as filling the condom with water and tying it up demonstrates the proper way to dispose of a condom after use. After the activity, the participants were told what they had done incorrectly and shown the proper way to open a condom, check the date of expiration, use a condom and dispose of a condom. The last activity had all the contestants count to 60 with their eyes closed, 11 of them were tapped and asked to stand. At the end of the 60 second time period, the contestants were told that an estimated 11 people had become infected in that 60 seconds - at the same time, a global map was shown with infection numbers around the world, underscoring the fact HIV affects each of their countries and that each of them have the opportunity to help reduce HIV/AIDS through their platform. After the session, one of the contestants came back into the room in tears, she thanked the peer educators and told them that a friend of hers had just told her that he was HIV positive. She wanted to know how long her friend would be able to live. She said the information greatly helped her and will allow her to be a better friend and advocate. |
Marshall Stowell