Over the past week, people have been busy celebrating the season of love. Starting with Rose Day on February 7 to Kiss Day on February 13 and the grand Valentine’s Day celebrations on February 14. Amidst all this, there is another important day that needs to get more attention, and that is International Condom Day. This day is celebrated every year on February 13. It is supported by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in an effort to reduce the spread of HIV and promote safe sex practices. AHF is a global not-for-profit organisation that is working towards making people treat condoms as an essential wardrobe item. International Condom Day was celebrated with great enthusiasm at Connaught Place, the heart of Delhi.
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Condoms of different forms, colours, dimensions and uses were seen at Connaught Place. IANS reports that at the celebration, condom-clad mannequins were lined up, manifesting the organisation’s motto that says ‘condoms are always in fashion’. In addition, boxes filled with prophylactic were placed randomly for people to reach into with abandon and take a wad of ‘Love’ Condom. Love condom is a brand of the AHF that it distributes free of cost. There were three HIV testing booths that attracted a lot of crowd and people were waiting eagerly for their results.
A man, who was dressed as a condom (or a ‘condomoid’), allowed one to glimpse the essential shield as another plaything, states IANS. The organisers of International Condom Day celebration in Delhi also placed a giant 40-foot inflatable condom that youths marked with their signatures. A series of flash mobs and rock band performances were a part of the entertainment programme. Smart Condom, ‘i.Con’, That Measures Speed of Thrusts and Calories Burnt While Having Sex to Be Launched Soon
Speaking to IANS, Simran Sheikh, Delhi President of ‘Impulse’, a group of gay people, working in collaboration of AHF, said that condoms are an important tool to evade any contraction with the sexually transmitted diseases. She added that a common excuse people give against using condoms is ‘maza nahiaata’ (it doesn’t give enough pleasure) and it is wrong. On the contrary, she says, it has been scientifically proven that there isn’t much difference in pleasure derived whether you have sex with or without condoms.
Watch a video of the celebration in Delhi:
International Condom Day is observed as an ‘informal observance celebrated in conjunction with Valentine’s Day’. The motto is to promote safe sex and cut the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. AHF also advocates easy access to free or low-cost condoms. In a statement, V. Sam Prasad, Country Program Director of AHF India, said that stigma on condoms is very high in India, even today. People tend to blame it on cultural and religious sentiments and the myth that– popularising condoms, in turn, increases promiscuity in the population. He explains that the reality is awareness campaigns on condoms increase ‘risk perception’ among masses and reiterate that condoms are the best protection too available for preventions of STIs, HIV and unwanted pregnancies.