Announced in August 2011, New York City has mandated lessons on sexual health and sex education starting today. Public middle schools and high schools are now required to introduce sex education lessons into health classes.

At least one semester of health education is required in 6th or 7th grade and then again in 9th or 10th grade. Previously, the health classes did not include sex education. This has now changed.

What will be taught includes physiology, the understanding of male and female reproductive systems, recognizing healthy and unhealthy relationships, sexuality and sexual identity, handling unwanted sexual advantages, contraception methods, and how to prevent unwanted STD’s.

The NYC Department of education has implemented a “research-based sex risk reduction curriculum” called “Reducing the Risk”. Research has shown that this helps to increase the use of contraception among teens and increase parent-child communication about contraception. It emphasizes that students should use protection consistently and correctly when they become sexually active.

Students learn to avoid high risk situations and recognize healthy and unhealthy relationships by role-playing situations on resisting pressure to have sex. This has proven to have direct results of safe sex behavior.

The sex education mandate takes effect today in NYC high schools and middle schools.

ONE® Condoms supports sex positive decision making and increased condom use to eliminate the spread of diseases. A portion of every ONE® Condoms sale goes towards HIV/AIDS prevention efforts at home and abroad.

What do you think of NYC’s new mandate on sex education?

Happy Friday ONE condom enthusiasts! Today we’re here to cover safe sex, sex education, relationship advice, and condoms in the news. Our goal is to keep you up to date on anything sex related this past week. Be sure to check out the articles on the fantastic groundbreaking law requiring condom use in porn!

Safe Sex

More Americans practicing safe sex, CDC reports

‘Safe sex is great sex’

TSG And GummiLove Promote Safe Sex

Do sex and golf have a connection?

Need To Make Teenagers Aware of the Benefits of Safe Sex

New Safe-Sex Porn Law Could Cost Los Angeles Billions

Safe sex: Study clears sex for most stable heart patients

Condoms

Landmark condom law for porn filming signed by LA mayor

‘Condom use drops in TN among high risk groups’

Ad Campaign Fights Dispensing Condoms In School: Board Votes Tonight

National Condom Week is Feb. 14-21

Rates of Condom and Non-Condom-Based Anal Intercourse Practices

Ron Jeremy Reacts To LA’s Condoms In Porn Ordinance

Sex Education

Good sex education is not about preaching abstinence

Controversial sex-ed game featuring Sperminator gets new version

New sex education guidance ‘startling,’ HASD super says

Sex Education: The Great Outdoors Edition

Sex Ed: A Teen’s Take On the Topic, and Teen Pregnancy

Santorum fumbles the sex-education football

Single-sex public education: Let the experiment continue?

The Swedish Erotica Collection: Alienation, Education and Morality

Do you have any links that weren’t included here that you could share with us from the past week?

Actors in adult movies in Los Angeles will be required to use condoms in all future adult films to be made. The city’s law was singed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa yesterday. 

The law will take effect 41 days from it being signed.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation president, Michael Weinstein, has pushed for such a measure for 6 years. “The city of Los Angeles has done the right thing for the performers,” he stated.

This adoption of this law is essential in protecting adult film actors from HIV/AIDS and other STI’s. Also, with the average age of children watching porn (11 years old) getting younger every year, porn is starting to replace positive sex education. This law will impact the way teenagers understand and experience safe sex behaviors including necessary condom use. 

As much as 90% of porn films produced in the U.S. are made in Los Angeles and most are filmed in the city’s suburb of San Fernando Valley. 

This regulation could force porn industry leaders out of the porn capital of the U.S and move to counties just outside of Los Angeles. Surrounding counties’ mayors have announced similar proposals to their city councils in case this move does happen.

The law requires filmmakers to pay a fee (still to be determined) that is used for spot checks at filming locations. It is still unclear who and how the law will be enforced. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is determined to keep track on where porn producers go, and pushes for similar legislation in those areas.

One thing is certain, protecting people’s lives is at the forefront of this legislation. 

ONE® Condoms is for this mandate on positive condom use in the porn industry. ONE® seeks to protect and promote universal positive safe sex behavior. A portion of every ONE Condoms sale goes to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts at home and abroad.

Are you personally for or against this Los Angeles law that was just signed into effect and do you think condoms in porn is a good idea?

It’s Friday everyone! That means it’s time for our weekly links roundup regarding everything related to safe sex, condoms, and sex education. ONE® Condoms is here to keep you in the know with recent news developments regarding the importance of sexual health and sex positive behaviors. 

Safe Sex

Safe Sex Web Series Too Racy?

Teens reject ‘safe sex’ education

New York’s new safe-sex campaign: ‘Too raw’?

Budget Cuts Could Hurt Sex Assault Task Force

Dealing with child-on-child sex abuse not one size fits all

Sex slavery: A growing problem in Missouri

Love and Sex Over 50: What Women Need To Know

Sex Education Standards Encourage Teaching ‘Safe Sex,’ Sexual Identity

Young females are vulnerable to risky multiple-person sex

HPV vaccine lulling girls into a false sense of security:

Condoms

Condoms become mandatory in Los Angeles

Condom Use Low Among Indian Youth

Why Miranda Hart’s condoms sent the BBC into a panic

BBC slammed over ‘freak’ sex show that follows teenager having bikini wax

Worst Product Launches Ever: What Can You Learn From Them?

Condom Initiative by Anti-AIDS Group Threatens Porn Industry

Sex Education

The New York Times Celebrates Explicit Sex Ed for Teenagers

Why do Republican Candidates Want to Take Away Your Condoms and Pills?

New sex education standards released

BBC’s sex film for kids ‘is like porn’

Single-Sex Schools for Our Girls … Only?

Some of the recommendations about sex education

What Should Second Graders Know About Sex?

Anti-sex opinions are hardly new to the Republican Party. Candidates have passionately shared views against premarital sex, gay sex — even non-procreative sex within marriage. Has the US turned into a culture of killjoys or is this just the view of the ultra conservative right?

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum has compared gay sex to bestiality, while another candidate Rick Perry has condemned the “sin” of homosexuality, and dropout Michele Bachmann has compared homosexuality to a “personal enslavement.”

This anti-sex agenda is not new to the Republican Party. The party is well known for restricting access to contraceptives and abortion. 

This presidential campaign season however, the GOP candidates are finding themselves to be out of line with the sexual beliefs and practices of most Americans. According to sex therapist Marty Klein, “the private sexual behavior of all ages, of all political persuasions is getting more liberal. The vast majority of Americans have sex before marriage,” and they are ok with it. In addition, 99% of Americans who have ever had sex have used some sort of contraception. When it comes to sex-related policy, over half of Americans are in favor of nationally recognized same-sex marriage.

Then why is the Republican party becoming more sexually conservative when the rest of America is becoming more sexually liberal? It seems that with more states legalizing gay marriage, the more opposition increases from the right. The Republican Party depends on the religious right and can’t win the White House without talking about preserving religious morality.

Yet, a Public Religion Research Institute poll found that nearly 90% of catholic women are in favor of expanding access to birth control to women who can’t afford it.

The ultra right needs to see the opposition of a culture of sexual promiscuity. And this is exactly what Republican hopefuls are giving them. With sex though, things are different. According to Klein, “every time it’s about sex, we’re going in ewith one hand tied behind our back - and not in a good way.”

ONE® Condoms supports the freedom of sexual expression and sexual identity in all forms. ONE® Condoms is for moving America forward with sex education and sex-positive behavior. A portion of every ONE® Condoms sale goes towards HIV/AIDS prevention efforts at home and abroad.

What do you think about the Republican Party’s anti-sex agenda?

Anal intercourse among heterosexual couples under the age of 45 is on the rise in the the United States, according to a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.

The report, entitled “Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction and Sexual Identity in the United States polled thousands of people aged 15 to 44 from 2006 to 2008. The study revealed that 44% of heterosexual men and 36% of heterosexual women admitted to engaging in anal sex at some point in their lives. It is possible that the rates for heterosexual men  and women engaging in anal sex is slighting higher in 2012 due to this upward trend.

The rise in popularity of anal intercourse, according to a piece by Pasadena College Gender Studies Professor Hugo Schwyzer, is due to its “frequent appearance in both heterosexual porn and mainstream media as well as an increased pressure from heterosexual male partners.”

Women of generation Y and Z have been slated with expectations of displaying their sexiness at a very young age and are held to standards that previous generations did not endure. Anal intercourse can symbolize both the willingness to please the partner and the persistence to push through potential pain. Anal sex, according to Schwyzer, is the “most selfless of common sexual acts” due to the the amount of pain the recipient can receive during the act. Many sources question the pleasurability of this act for women.

Is this growing popularity of anal intercourse a demonstration of a young woman to prove her devotion to a guy? Is it creating an emphasis placed on a woman’s performance rather than on their own pleasure?

ONE Condoms supports the freedom of expression and the freedom of choice particularly when it comes to sexual behavior and sexual identity. A portion of every ONE Condoms sales goes towards HIV/AIDS prevention efforts at home and abroad.

You can read more on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s report here.

Do you find that anal sex is both pleasurable for you and your partner and do you think that the popularity of these acts will grow more in the future?

Friday, Friday! Hello ONE® Condoms Followers. This is our first weekly links roundup of the new year and with it comes great articles in the news this first week of 2012. Be sure to check out the new advances in sex education via text, the importance of practicing safe sex despite HPV vaccinations, and the porn industry’s mandated condom ballot measures. ONE® Condoms is here to keep you in the know with everything related to your sexual health.

Condoms

Is There an Illegal Monopoly in the US Condom Market

Surging Republican Santorum thinks condoms should be outlawed?

AHF Now Plans Countywide Porn-Condom Ballot Measure

Once Upon a Time, We Used Radium Condoms For Glow in the Dark Sex

AIDS: Dec. 1, 2031: AIDS at 50

Art too hot for council display

Putin sends somewhat sarcastic New Year’s greetings to Russians

O’Donnell on Why Republicans Should Oppose Condom Regs

Safe Sex

Many Teen Girls Mistakenly Think HPV Vaccines Cut Risk for All STDs

Under the Lab Coat: The Top Sex Stories of 2011

Safe sex web series launches using city teens speaking in slang

Call safe-sex hotline, save endangered species

Sexual Assault: Can You Ever Move On?

Study connects alcohol and sex

Sex Is Riskier At a Surprising Time of the Month

Sex Education

Sex Education Gets Directly to Youths, via Text

Needham Schools’ New Sex Ed Program Reviewed

Young People and Comprehensive Sex Education: Moving Beyond Scare Tactics

Buttoned-up Britain needs to talk about sex education

Comprehensive sexuality education plays a role in successful adult life

Denver Planned Parenthood affiliate offers sex-ed texting

Websites and Texting Services Offer Teenagers Sex Education

If you’ve seen any blockbuster gay-themed movies in 2011 you’ll notice that not one film from Beginners to J. Edgar portrays gay sex openly. It is done in the dark and behind closed doors. Why could that be?

Illustrating gay sex is the last Hollywood taboo that directors are seemingly frightened to cross. Even as many sitcom stars including Ellen DeGeneres, gay co-creator of Will & Grace Max Mutchnick, & Queer’s Peter Paige have come out of the closet, Hollywood still portrays the sexual man as completely sexless. 

Gay marriage over the years has become more accepted across the US, yet the film industry still disregards this demographic. Hollywood is predominantly driven by ticket sales to straight men. That’s why lesbian sex in Hollywood is extensive and gay sex is not. The film industry is in a financial slump and is unwilling to take risks even in successful times. When taking a risk of showing gay male intercourse, as Mutchnick points out, “someone in the audience will inevitably shout ‘Ewww!’” This does not help the profitability of Hollywood Producers.

According to Art Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, David Ansen, “there were actually movies this year with gay sex but really nobody saw them because they only played in film festivals. …Gay films are not seen by crossover audiences.” Even though studio executives aren’t necessarily homophobic, many directors in Hollywood struggle to secure financing if gay sex is portrayed. This funding shortage could be related to the fact that if people are not gay, they might not be getting something out of a story of gay people. As gay people have become more integrated into society, gay sex depictions have lost their shock value. Gay men have entered into mainstream media, particularly romantic comedies, as a cuddly figure who does it in the dark or gets sidelined sexually.

In the case of Showtime’s Queer (running from 2000-2005), actor Peter Paige found it difficult to secure acting work after the show ended. He found that sometimes even for gay roles, casting directors only want to see straight actors. It remains that Hollywood directors are scared to take those chances.

Societal change is the byproduct of the stories we engage with and the media we consume. Ramin Setodeh of the Daily Beast argues that “if Hollywood refuses to push boundaries, to make more people comfortable with something that a segment of America is still uncomfortable with, gay people remain second-class citizens.” 

What is lacking is Hollywood is gay romance. And you can’t have romance if it ends with a kiss on the cheek- you need passion. 

ONE Condoms supports all sexual orientations & supports the freedom of expression. 

You can read more on this topic here at the Daily Beast.

Do you think that Hollywood is doing a good or bad job at portraying gay sex? What would you like to see more of? 

Happy Friday ONE® Condoms Enthusiasts. Today is our last post of 2011 and we want to bring you into the new year with the most up to date news regarding safe sex, sex education, and condom use. Be sure to practice safe sex this holiday season with ONE® Condoms!

Condoms

Porn Film Condom Proposal Qualifies for Los Angeles Ballot, But City Objects

California’s Condom Mandate: New Ballot Initiative Targets Adult Film Industry

Changes in HIV knowledge, and socio-cultural and sexual attitudes in South India

HPV Vaccine Won’t Turn Girls Into Sluts, After All!

What You Can, Cannot Buy With Your FSA

HPV vaccine does not promote promiscuity

New Stats on Teen Sex Will Shock Parents Into Serious Talks

Safe Sex

Santa Cruz Prepares for Defiant New Year’s Eve

It’s the natural drug said to banish hot flushes and pep up flagging sex drives

Does the law on consensual sex among teenagers need a relook?

STDs Rising Among Boomers

Sex Education

Sex ed should cover mind, not just body

Sex Education: It’s Called A Vulva

Providing our daughters with sex education

Women’s church leader calls for more sex education for girls

Sex education coming to Croatia’s schools

Having The “Sex Talk” Organically

A recent Boston University Study has found 1 in 13 teenage girls have reported engaging a multi-person sex experience. Many respondents to the survey felt pressured into initiating a multi-person sex experience by the influence of boyfriends who have been watching pornography.

The average age of girls partaking in multi-person sex was just 15.6 years old, under the age of legal consent in all U.S. states (the most common being 16 years old). Disturbingly, nearly 50% of those who had multi-person sex reported their partners not using condoms. 

This raises serious concerns over the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and education efforts to encourage informed sexual health decision making among teenagers. There is clearly a major influence of pornography on teenagers. Out of those who engaged in multi-person sex, 50% did things their partners say in porn first.  

Porn seems to be influencing the sexual behavior of these teens. As we said in last weeks post entitled “Porn to Replace Sex Education? A Call for Mandatory Condom Use”, sex positive behavior in porn is a must. A problem certainly exists since some youth think “Growing up, watching porn – that’s sort of where you get your grasp of what’s normal and what’s not.” Teenagers deserve quality sex education to encourage healthy and well informed decision making. 

ONE® Condoms urges everyone to make informed sexual health decisions to prevent the spread of harmful diseases. We donate a portion of all profits to AIDS/HIV education both domestically & abroad. Keep yourself protected with ONE® Condoms.