Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks
Like the story about Lenin Gutierrez has perfectly illustrated, there has been a pushback from some Americans about covering up their faces in the wake of the coronavirus.
So it’s time we listen to what sex educators have to say. Sexologist Jill McDevitt recently made a Facebook post highlighting how four decades worth of research on condom use can help us get more people to use face masks.
“It’s not our first rodeo when it comes to convincing people they should wear a barrier for protection from a deadly virus,” McDevitt wrote on June 29th. She proceeded to list 10 tips on how to approach the problem, and it looks like her message has been heard. McDevitt’s post went viral, generating over 3K likes and 6,4K shares, contributing to bettering our public health in a time of great distress.
More info: thesexologist.org
McDevitt definitely knows what she’s talking about. She’s a sexologist, sexuality educator, sexual wellness coach, and feel-good activist. Her mission is to radically change and improve the way we think about and treat sexuality, ourselves, and each other. “I knew I wanted to be a sexologist since I was a young teenager and noticed how much shame, embarrassment, and misinformation there is about sexuality,” she told Bored Panda. “I started doing my own research and educating my friends and classmates. It became clear to me that shame exists in the shadows, and by talking about sexuality openly and honestly, it’s a lot better for everyone. I decided then to pursue it as a career and went on to earn 3 degrees (BA, MEd, Ph.D.) in human sexuality.”
The sexologist said she made the post “hoping to give people a set of tools, a new way of thinking, a new framework for applying what we already know about sexuality and how it might be helpful with the current crisis.”
According to McDevitt, condom use has many positives, including preventing pregnancy and STIs, yet there are all kinds of reasons why people who could benefit from using a rubber don’t buy one. “They don’t like the way they fit and feel. They don’t know how to talk about or negotiate condom use with a partner. Many of the same reasons I’ve heard people talk about not wanting to wear a mask.
Image credits: Jill McDevitt
While wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the norm in places like China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, it has been polarizing in others, such as the U.S., where mixed messages have resulted in confusion about whether or not to get and — most importantly — use one.
It could have something to do with the fact that mixed messages have come from the very top. For example, tt the same time as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced new guidance that Americans should cover their faces in public to fight the spread, of COVID-19, President Donald Trump said it was “voluntary” and he himself would not do so. Then Vice-President Mike Pence was pictured visiting a health clinic without wearing one (which he later apologized for).
Emory University Global Health and Law Professor Polly Price told the BBC the situation in America now is a reminder of what happened during the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak. Then the US Surgeon General advised everyone to make and wear their own mask – just as instructions are now on the Centers for Disease Control’s website, guides were sent to newspapers.
“It was up to state and local governments whether they were going to require their populations to do it – not all did,” she explained.
Some cities imposed fines for not wearing them. “There were very few court challenges, but they generally upheld the authority of local governments to have face mask ordinances.”
“We do have a long tradition of individual rights, so even during the Spanish flu people would sue about the schools [being] closed. Or restaurants and bars were closed and people would sue about that and they routinely lost.”
Here’s what people said after reading McDevitt’s post
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@Kate "Are you sure? I don't know, because, you see, a joke is meant to be a play on words, or a witticism, or a comic juxtaposition of disparate ideas to provoke a spontaneous explosion of laughter. So what you told me can't have been a joke... 'cause I didn't laugh."
Load More Replies...
Thanks to the petulant orange bigot in the white house, a lot of people in the US think wearing a mask in public makes them a SJW snowflake. Ideally, I hope they all get Covid 19. But realistically, they'll likely spread it to a lot of innocent people who are being intelligent about all of this...
Wearing masks is mandatory here. A group of construction workers entered the store to purchase lunch. Two of them were not wearing masks and boasting about personal freedom, the rest of the group walked faster to distance themselves from them, as if those two were not part of their group. Clearly they were embarrassed. I do speak up when people don't wear masks, the number of people who thank me afterwards always amazes me. Not wearing a mask is selfish, your comfort is more important than the lives others -- what happened to love thy neighbor?
Politics is the new American religion. “Love thy neighbor” goes against the political fanatics’ beliefs.
Load More Replies...
But like a condom...we need to preach that mask arent 100 percent effective...we shouldnt be in movie theathers,rallies,protest..airplanes..even with a mask..
A women entered our community post office without a mask. It is mandatory and well explained in an abundance of signage. As she sat in her car going through her mail, I knocked on her window. "We wear masks for the protection of others. Wearing a mask matters --- to me. But it matters most to my son. Think about it."
She knows the theory and she doesn't care. You can repeat it a thousand times, and she still won't care. The thing: in a country whose President refuses to wear a mask, and where masks are not compulsory, you can't force anyone to wear one. In my country it is compulsory inside and even so many people don't wear one in shops and supermarkets. "You should wear a mask" gives you the option, and trying to appeal to an idiot's good sense is a waste of time. Honestly, I think people should be told they need to wear a mask to protect themselves, because "others" are not important for them.
Load More Replies... Yeah..but like condoms....? Huh you research condoms for a living..and know men still dont wear them. So how are you gonna get men to wear a mask?
Smart men wear them. And that right there is the problem. It's that toxic masculinity has once again made something "uncool" were that shouldn't even be part of the discussion.
Load More Replies...
Look, I'm all for masks, but this is an asinine comparison. Not only the fact that (most) people aren't randomly having sex in a grocery store etc., but also the fact that whether someone chooses to wear one or not doesn't directly affect me. I mean, if they have a child, it's on them. However, no mask directly affects me, my family, and everyone else.
Actually, they do. Masks are spit shields that protect everyone else from the wearer's (potentially infectious) spit balls. Other people wear masks to protect YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, not themselves.
Load More Replies...
The biggest problem in the US is that rules and guidelines vary from state to state. On top of that shop owners get to decide what their policy on masks is. This leads to confusion and gives anti-maskers all the justification they need. "Why should I wear a mask if in 40 other states no one needs to wear it? " Sadly the United States do not exist anymore. Tweety the tangerine toddler has managed to make them the Ununited States in less than 4 years.
The difference in state laws/regs on masks (as with guns, fireworks, etc.) ... Education standards... Some variation due to terrain, blah blah blah, but this? Shouldn't be an issue. Yet, here we are. Facing a pandemic that could take years to "end", in part b/c of political posturing and misinformation. As a medical person, I honestly want to scream, "Did the HIV thing not teach anyone anything?" (I know. It didn't. Dammit.)
Load More Replies...
I wonder, if the people not wearing masks, do to wear condoms or insist their partner doesn't?
AIDS is what normalized condom usage the most. AIDS was also a pandemic to which many people fell victim for the simple reason they would not use a condom. This mask business has somehow become politicized, and not just Republicans and Dems. Somehow people equate it with rights and freedoms. There are thousands of men in this country who were told to go to war much against their will, but they did it anyway. Most did it because of the larger ideal of protecting rights and freedoms.
With condoms, you didn't have them being used as a political p**n, with an entire demographic now believing they aren't needed and being asked to use one is the equivalent of burning the Bill of Rights
Sorry, but yes, they were, just not on TV. (The US still has issues using the word "sex" and "penis" and "uterus" in health class, let alone anywhere else.) HIV was/is (fill in weird theory) and after all, men can't feel good "enough" if they wear one (sound familiar? can't "breathe like they want"?.... I'm old enough to remember the 1980s and early 1990s. The condom argument was a no-brainer except to those with, apparently, no brain... Like masks. They still won't let you teach kids how to prevent disease in health class, in many US locations.
Load More Replies...
You have to make the facts available and then let the individuals take personal responsibility or get COVID and die. I am actually f*****g sick of hearing about masks, mask shaming, mask belittling, freedom from masks, blah blah blah. Just move on. Jeez. Nothing like running that s**t into the ground to make people just do whatever they want. Seriously, just stop.
@Kate "Are you sure? I don't know, because, you see, a joke is meant to be a play on words, or a witticism, or a comic juxtaposition of disparate ideas to provoke a spontaneous explosion of laughter. So what you told me can't have been a joke... 'cause I didn't laugh."
Load More Replies... Thanks to the petulant orange bigot in the white house, a lot of people in the US think wearing a mask in public makes them a SJW snowflake. Ideally, I hope they all get Covid 19. But realistically, they'll likely spread it to a lot of innocent people who are being intelligent about all of this...
Wearing masks is mandatory here. A group of construction workers entered the store to purchase lunch. Two of them were not wearing masks and boasting about personal freedom, the rest of the group walked faster to distance themselves from them, as if those two were not part of their group. Clearly they were embarrassed. I do speak up when people don't wear masks, the number of people who thank me afterwards always amazes me. Not wearing a mask is selfish, your comfort is more important than the lives others -- what happened to love thy neighbor?
Politics is the new American religion. “Love thy neighbor” goes against the political fanatics’ beliefs.
Load More Replies... But like a condom...we need to preach that mask arent 100 percent effective...we shouldnt be in movie theathers,rallies,protest..airplanes..even with a mask..
A women entered our community post office without a mask. It is mandatory and well explained in an abundance of signage. As she sat in her car going through her mail, I knocked on her window. "We wear masks for the protection of others. Wearing a mask matters --- to me. But it matters most to my son. Think about it."
She knows the theory and she doesn't care. You can repeat it a thousand times, and she still won't care. The thing: in a country whose President refuses to wear a mask, and where masks are not compulsory, you can't force anyone to wear one. In my country it is compulsory inside and even so many people don't wear one in shops and supermarkets. "You should wear a mask" gives you the option, and trying to appeal to an idiot's good sense is a waste of time. Honestly, I think people should be told they need to wear a mask to protect themselves, because "others" are not important for them.
Load More Replies... Yeah..but like condoms....? Huh you research condoms for a living..and know men still dont wear them. So how are you gonna get men to wear a mask?
Smart men wear them. And that right there is the problem. It's that toxic masculinity has once again made something "uncool" were that shouldn't even be part of the discussion.
Load More Replies... Look, I'm all for masks, but this is an asinine comparison. Not only the fact that (most) people aren't randomly having sex in a grocery store etc., but also the fact that whether someone chooses to wear one or not doesn't directly affect me. I mean, if they have a child, it's on them. However, no mask directly affects me, my family, and everyone else.
Actually, they do. Masks are spit shields that protect everyone else from the wearer's (potentially infectious) spit balls. Other people wear masks to protect YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, not themselves.
Load More Replies... The biggest problem in the US is that rules and guidelines vary from state to state. On top of that shop owners get to decide what their policy on masks is. This leads to confusion and gives anti-maskers all the justification they need. "Why should I wear a mask if in 40 other states no one needs to wear it? " Sadly the United States do not exist anymore. Tweety the tangerine toddler has managed to make them the Ununited States in less than 4 years.
The difference in state laws/regs on masks (as with guns, fireworks, etc.) ... Education standards... Some variation due to terrain, blah blah blah, but this? Shouldn't be an issue. Yet, here we are. Facing a pandemic that could take years to "end", in part b/c of political posturing and misinformation. As a medical person, I honestly want to scream, "Did the HIV thing not teach anyone anything?" (I know. It didn't. Dammit.)
Load More Replies... I wonder, if the people not wearing masks, do to wear condoms or insist their partner doesn't?
AIDS is what normalized condom usage the most. AIDS was also a pandemic to which many people fell victim for the simple reason they would not use a condom. This mask business has somehow become politicized, and not just Republicans and Dems. Somehow people equate it with rights and freedoms. There are thousands of men in this country who were told to go to war much against their will, but they did it anyway. Most did it because of the larger ideal of protecting rights and freedoms.
With condoms, you didn't have them being used as a political p**n, with an entire demographic now believing they aren't needed and being asked to use one is the equivalent of burning the Bill of Rights
Sorry, but yes, they were, just not on TV. (The US still has issues using the word "sex" and "penis" and "uterus" in health class, let alone anywhere else.) HIV was/is (fill in weird theory) and after all, men can't feel good "enough" if they wear one (sound familiar? can't "breathe like they want"?.... I'm old enough to remember the 1980s and early 1990s. The condom argument was a no-brainer except to those with, apparently, no brain... Like masks. They still won't let you teach kids how to prevent disease in health class, in many US locations.
Load More Replies... You have to make the facts available and then let the individuals take personal responsibility or get COVID and die. I am actually f*****g sick of hearing about masks, mask shaming, mask belittling, freedom from masks, blah blah blah. Just move on. Jeez. Nothing like running that s**t into the ground to make people just do whatever they want. Seriously, just stop.
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