Culture and the Condom

In the last decade of the twentieth century, the «safe sex» message – advocating the use of condoms to prevent pregnancy and curb the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases – has endured relentless attacks by conservative religious groups who seek to instill doubt and promote an abstinence-only theme in American public schools. The essays in this book provide a stimulating historical and cultural inquiry into the multiplicity of meanings attributed to one prophylactic: the con…