Better be safe than sorry

THE EDITOR: Over the last few months I have read many letters regarding the great condom debate. I have read some very good articles, as well as some that I cannot believe seemingly educated people would write. There has been this uproar of how condoms would encourage sex, a point that I quite frankly can’t agree with. Condoms are to be used in sexual intercourse to help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as to be used as a form of birth control. Notice that both of these reasons are not foolproof, but both methods are a heck of a lot safer than using no form of protection at all. We are not talking about locking children in a room with $1,000 and prostitutes, but we are talking about making available a piece of apparatus for safety in the event that sexual intercourse is had.

For all those parents out there, I am sure you bring up your children to the best of your ability, teach them all that you can, to wait to have sex until they are married with the person they love. But parents, I can assure you that sex is very rampant among our younger generation, right or wrong, that is the reality. But tell me realistically, if your daughter was going to have sex would you rather that she didn’t use a condom, risking pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases? I would certainly like to think not. I could not imagine that anyone would wish such a thing, in the event that someone you cared about was going to have sex, you would want them to be as safe as possible, and after abstinence, condoms are your next safest bet. It is up to parents to teach their children about sex and the responsibility involved, and to inform them that whenever they are to have sex, to be safe, and once the issue of safety comes up, I find it hard to believe that the topic regarding the use of condoms won’t be encouraged.

KELLY ROBINSON
Port-of-Spain