For Valentine's Day: E-Condoms

City aims to serve and protect

(NEWSER) - Got a sudden, burning-hot date? No problemo. Just check out the New York City "Condom App" to locate the nearest place to get free condoms. "We want New York City to be the safest city in the world to have sex," said the assistant commissioner of New York's Health Department, which gave birth to the idea. "A lot of people come here for that, so we want them to practice safer sex." The application, available on iPhones and Android phones, taps into the city's database of more than 1,000 different locations which offer free condoms, notes the Daily Telegraph . And just so we're clear: "We're not promoting sex, we're promoting safer sex," stresses the assistant commissioner. More»

Conservative columnists like the pontiff's declaration

(NEWSER) - The pope's declaration that condoms are OK for prostitutes wins praise from two conservative columnists today:

• Michael Gerson, Washington Post : It's a "welcome and necessary shift," he writes. Benedict isn't conceding "the moral ideal" of abstinence outside of marriage, but he's suggesting "that there is a moral aspect even to acts the church considers immoral." With AIDS ravaging Africa, he's giving a needed acknowledgment to human nature.

Shocked? Men and women report different rates of female orgasm

(NEWSER) - Figures may not lie, but people do—especially, it seems, when it comes to sex. The most comprehensive study of Americans' sex lives since 1994 finds a strange "perception gap" related to orgasm: While 85% of the male respondents said their latest sexual partner had an orgasm, only 64% of the women reported having an orgasm in their most recent sexual event, notes AP . More»

'Dream project' targets pockets of high-risk sexual behavior

(NEWSER) - Washington, DC, has given out condoms for almost a decade, but now the capital city is also offering up female condoms to boost its efforts to stem HIV infection rates. Some half-million free female condoms will soon blanket the District's schools, convenience stores, and salons in high-risk areas in a first-of-its-kind program aimed at giving women more control over sexual protection. More»

Study shows that monogamy is the best weapon against AIDS in Africa

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict's controversial statements that condoms aren't helping in Africa may be unpopular, but evidence shows that he might be right, a public heath researcher argues in the Washington Post. It's a divisive topic in part because the condom has become such a potent symbol of sexual freedom and female emancipation, acknowledges Edward C. Green. Yet research has revealed that condoms do not work as a primary HIV-intervention measure in Africa, Green notes. More»