Condom Talk

(informative speech manuscript)


Two weeks ago, I was very much confused of what topic to choose from as the main ingredient for an informative speech that I will be delivering infront of you. I really found a genuine difficulty in selecting topics which range from the relationship of eating chicken to gay men, the postmodernism, the irony of having loadless cellphones and many others. Frankly speaking, I was really nervous for my indecisiveness because I thought it might provoke a volcano from our public speaking professor to erupt. Thank God, an angel texted me one night and shared a poem that changed my fate and the halted the volcano from erupting (would you mind if I read it? Oh, I forgot…you have no choice but listen) It is entitled… The rubber poem Kissing is a habit; fucking is a game. Guys get the pleasure; Girls get the pain. The guy says,” I love you”; you believe it’s true. But when your tummy starts to swell, He just says, “Who the hell are you?” The baby is a bastard; the mother is whore. This wouldn’t happen if the rubber was put on. Yes, I am talking about condoms. One of you might be thinking how unladylike of me to select such a topic to discuss. Well, I can’t blame you for that. Our society has moulded the way we think and the way we act. But isn’t it time for us to open our minds to the problems of our society, to the roots of it, and to the would-have-beens that our ancestors failed to do? Ladies and gentlemen, let us open our minds to discuss a dot that would create a line, a bit that would create a whole being and an issue that would lead answers to bigger questions. I know our society is sensitive about issues involving sexuality and much more on contraception specifically the use of condom. In the present time, there is a continuous criticism on the advertisement of this kind of contraception here in the Philippines. Many are going against the family planning advertisements on condom and other forms of contraception. And I do believe you yourself have you’re your own opinion about it-opinion that may be contradictory to mine. But before we argue and involve ourselves into a hot debate, let us first try to look on this term C-O-N-D-O-M. Do we really know enough about this thing? Condom has been claimed to be from the Latin word condon, meaning receptacle. One author argues that “condom” is derived from the Latin word condamina, meaning house. It has also been speculated to be from the Italian word guantone, derived from guanto, meaning glove. Folk etymology on the other hand, claims that the word “condom” is derived from a purported “Dr. Condom” or “Quondam”, who made the devices for King Charles II of England. It is also hypothesized that a British army officer named Cundum popularized the device between 1680 and 1717. The oldest recorded condom was an Egyptian drawing of a condom being worn found to be 3,000 years old. In 16th century Italy, Gabriele Falloppio authored the first-known published description of condom use for disease prevention. He recommended soaking cloth sheaths in a chemical solution and allowing them to dry prior to use. He claimed to have performed an experimental trial of the linen sheath on 1100 men. His report of the experiment, published two years after his death, indicated protection against syphilis. The oldest condoms found (rather than just pictures or descriptions) are from 1640, discovered in Dudley Castle in England. They were made of animal intestine, and it is believed they were used for STD prevention. In 19th century Japan, both leather condoms and condoms made of tortoise shells or horns were available. Similar devices made During the 19th Century to the present, the rubber vulcanization process was patented by Charles Goodyear in 1844, and the first rubber condom was produced in 1855. These early rubber condoms were 1-2mm thick and had seams down the sides. Although they were reusable, these early rubber condoms were also expensive. T. In 1912, a German named Julius Fromm developed a new manufacturing technique for condoms: dipping glass molds into the raw rubber solution. This enabled the production of thinner condoms with no seams. Fromm’s Act was the first branded line of condoms, and Fromm’s is still a popular line of condoms in Germany today. By the 1930s, the manufacturing process had improved to produce single-use condoms almost as thin and inexpensive as those currently available. Condoms come in different varieties. There is the latex condom. It has outstanding elastic properties: Its tensile strength exceeds 30 MPa, and latex condoms may be stretched in excess of 800% before breaking. They are used with oil-based lubricants (e.g. Vaseline) and are likely to slip off due to loss of elasticity caused by the oils. Another variety is the Polyurethane condom. They can be thinner than latex condoms, with some polyurethane condoms only 0.02 mm thick. Polyurethane is also the material of many female condoms. It can be considered better than latex in several ways: it conducts heat better than latex, is not as sensitive to temperature and ultraviolet light (and so has less rigid storage requirements and a longer shelf life), can be used with oil-based lubricants, is less allergenic than latex, and does not have an odor. However, polyurethane condoms are less elastic than latex ones, and may be more likely to slip or break than latex, and are more expensive. Another variety is the lambskin. Condoms made from one of the oldest condom materials, labeled “lambskin” (made from lamb intestines) are still available. They have a greater ability to transmit body warmth and tactile sensation, when compared to synthetic condoms, and are less allergenic than latex. However, there is an increased risk of transmitting STDs compared to latex because of pores in the material, which are thought to be large enough to allow infectious agents to pass through, albeit blocking the passage of sperm. The other variety are the experimental condoms-the Invisible Condom, developed at University Laval in Québec, Canada, is a gel that hardens upon increased temperature after insertion into the vagina or rectum. In the lab, it has been shown to effectively block HIV and herpes simplex virus. The barrier breaks down and liquefies after several hours. The invisible condom is in the clinical trial phase, and has not yet been approved for use. Condoms, as of most forms of contraception, can be assessed two ways. Perfect use or method effectiveness rates only include people who use condoms properly and consistently. Actual use, or typical use effectiveness rates are of all condom users, including those who use condoms improperly, inconsistently, or both. Rates are generally presented for the first year of use. There are several factors that account for typical use effectiveness being lower than perfect use effectiveness: • mistakes on the part of those providing instructions on how to use the method • mistakes on the part of the user • Conscious user non-compliance with instructions. For instance, someone using condoms might be given incorrect information on what lubricants are safe to use with condoms, or by mistake put the condom on improperly, or simply not bother to use a condom. Condoms are widely recommended for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). They have been shown to be effective in reducing infection rates in both men and women. While not perfect, the condom is effective at reducing the transmission of HIV, genital herpes, genital warts, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and other diseases. According to a 2000 report by the National Institutes of Health, correct and consistent use of latex condoms reduces the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission by approximately 85% relative to risk when unprotected, putting the seroconversion rate (infection rate) at 0.9 per 100 person-years with condom, down from 6.7 per 100 person-years. The same review also found condom use significantly reduces the risk of gonorrhea for men. A 2006 study reports that proper condom use decreases the risk of transmission for human papilla virus by approximately 70%. Another study in the same year found consistent condom use was effective at reducing transmission of herpes HIV simplex virus-2 also known as genital herpes, in both men and women. The Roman Catholic Church which is the largest organized body of any world religion dedicated in to fighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa, but its opposition to condom use in these programs has been highly controversial. The Catholic Church directly condemns any artificial birth control or sexual acts aside from intercourse, between married heterosexual partners. However, the use of condoms to combat STDs is not specifically addressed by Catholic doctrine, and is currently a topic of debate among high-ranking Catholic authorities. A few, such as Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, believe the Catholic Church should actively support condoms used to prevent disease, especially serious diseases such as AIDS. However, to date statements from the Vatican have argued that condom-promotion programs encourage promiscuity, thereby actually increasing STD transmission. Because of the dangers threatening our society of sexually active people, contraceptive methods specifically condoms are a handy protection for a lifetime suffering. With all its negative connotations, they are indeed helpful in today’s generation. So if time comes that one of you might be engaging in a certain sexual encounter with your significant others, don’t forget a statement which was quoted from a certain movie during the World War II that goes, “Don’t forget-to put it on, before you put it in.”#