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One size does not fit all in the world of condoms, especially when some of the users still haven't had their voice change. Catering to the under-fourteen set, The Telegraph reports a Swiss company has created a mini-condom to fit a mini-penis. They have called it the Hotshot, which is obviously a better name than my suggestion: Tweenises.
The obvious question is if this fits the "if you build it, they will come" mentality and whether mini-condoms encourage preteens to have sex by giving tacit approval through its existence. Yet statistics show that preteens are having sex. According to The Telegraph, the company that makes Hotshots, Lamprecht AG, states that it was moved to create the product when it saw statistics on boys engaging in risky behavior at a young age.
Currently, the condoms are only for sale in Switzerland, though -- they could be on sale soon in the U.K., the country with the "highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe."
And more important than simply being sold in stores, The Washington Times states the condom will be "distributed in Swiss schools as part of a prevention campaign by the Swiss AIDS Federation." It's being combined with education, not just hanging on a shelf, condoning the idea of teen sex. Some might say that by being realistic and taking into account documented preteen practices, the company can do more to curb the problem of teen pregnancy and the transmission of STDs.
As much as you're not going to want to hear this, as a former middle school teacher, I can tell you that preteens are having sex, and they are woefully ill-informed. We moved teaching sex-ed from eighth grade down to sixth grade the year that I taught the course because we realized that by 13, it was already too late to set up protective practices. Sixth grade was decided upon because by 12, some kids were already sexually-active and learning about birth control and the spread of STDs would come after risky behavior.
Of course, it would help greatly if education could begin at home, with parents teaching their kids how to make sound decisions and how to utilize birth control. Because right now, the kids are learning about sex from each other, which is the fastest way for misinformation to the spread.
If they were available in America, would you want preteens to have them?
Melissa writes Stirrup Queens and Lost and Found. Her book is Navigating the Land of If.
