The Right Way to Scare Women into Using Condoms

This is brilliant.  As reported by Salon.com, SexReally.com showed a PSA at the recent Sex:Tech conference.  The PSA shows men acting like pigs, followed by the tagline “Guys are a@#$%^&.  Be safe. Every time.”  Now, many in the feminist community are up in arms over this-but it was an excellent idea, albeit executed poorly.  Let’s take a look:

Bad acting aside, this is directed at the wrong demographic: women in their twenties.  By the time women have hit their twenties, most have suffered at least one heartbreak-or at the very least, some dude made them feel very crappy for reasons they don’t understand.  I would have loved to see younger guys discussing sexy times.  I also would have changed the tagline. . .let me  suggest: “Guys are idiots.”

Look, being 16 is confusing for everyone involved.  Girls specifically are learning that deferring to men is attractive-I don’t want to get too Women’s Studies 101 here, but suffice to say I’ve learned the hard way it’s best to let the guy make the first move.   The problem is that when it comes to sex, teen girls may not realize the danger of letting him lead the way: he doesn’t know what’s going on either.

In my version of the ad, adolescent boys would be asked questions about menstruation and the clitoris.  You could also ask the boys how they decide how far they will go, I’m guessing young women will be both empowered and disturbed when they learn it’s “as far as they’ll let me.”  The point isn’t to demean or further gender stereotypes, the point is to teach young girls what’s up: no matter how cute or smart your special guy is, odds are at 16, he’s a little unclear about this whole sex thing.

Photo by wharman.