As discussed in my book, in spite of the horrors of post-WWII life, and being the "host" for the Vatican - the Italians, or at least some of them, showed great courage and good sense when the lobby for birth control began in the early 1950s.  But last week's ruling by the Italian Supreme Court just seems to go against everything that country has managed to achieve ie safe sex, sensible family planning,etc.
Yes, this just boggles the mind: Italy's top judges have ruled that having sex with a condom is grounds for divorce.
The state's Supreme Court agreed the Catholic Vatican Court was right to nullify a couple's 18-year marriage because they always practised safe sex.
The husband, identified only as Fabio N, suffers from a rheumatic condition called Reiter's syndrome, which is transmitted through sex.
His wife Elisabetta began proceedings for a religious divorce through the Vatican in 2003.
It was granted and state judges agreed a marriage without the purpose of children is not legal.
The ruling sets a dangerous precedent, as it means couples risk divorce if they refuse unprotected sex - even if their partner is HIV positive!

Definitely a sign of the changing economic climate, the sky high condoms sales in Chile have led to some interesting results. It's out with the martini and in with condoms as this South American country redoes its consumer price index to reflect changing consumer patterns. Items to be added to the index basket include condoms, hamburgers, rum, hunger-suppressants and Internet services, while film, video rentals and computer discs were among those withdrawn.

Last week, an article appeared in a major English newspaper, written by a journalist concerned about the state of the Irish family.  I found his premise a bit confounding. 
As I talk about in my book, Ireland was oh so late in making birth control legal.  Thanks to some brave souls, to include Bono, in 1990 the Irish government was finally dragged into the 20th century and condoms and other birth control was made legal...now days, try to find a pub that doesn't have a condom machine!
But the article I'm confused by blames the easy access to condoms and birth control pills for the increase in adolescent sex and teenage pregnancy, especially amongst the poor.  They have no clue about parenting and are basically going the way of the English, with way too many young girls having babies they can't handle, going on the dole, and now creating a permanent underclass.
My question is: how can increased bc access lead to MORE pregnancies?  Surely the whole issue, as usual, is about NOT providing the information, education, and needed limits (NO to welfare to 15 year olds who want to leave home and baby is the ticket out!!, for instance)...afterall, if that were happening, these kiddos would also be using condoms as a matter of course, not just as bc but to protect themselves from diseases. 
Clearly, that's not happening in a growing segment of Irish society. 
The Church still looms large in Ireland...is it possible that's why one hand giveth and the other taketh away?? Condoms condoms everywhere, but the whys, whens, and hows are not being taught in schools, on TV, on the radio. ..Irish youth is almost as ignorant now as it was 3

As we enter the new year, it is interesting to note just how far we have not come when it is about "safe sex."  A good idea? Well, yea, but what about getting the message out?  We've known since the 70s that if you want to reach people - especially the under 30s - TV is THE way.  But American TV execs are still oh so squeemish...just a year ago, the ad that never was was turned down by CBS and Fox.  Here is the story from the NY Times:

Pigs With Cellphones, but No Condoms

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN

IN a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men’s room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly.

Directed by Phil Joanou (“State of Grace”), with special effects by the Stan Winston Studio (“Jurassic Park”), the commercial is entertaining. But it also has a message, spelled out at the end: “Evolve. Use a condom every time.”

“We have to change the perception that carrying a condom for women or men is a sign they’re on the prowl and just want to have sex,” said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive of the Kaplan Thaler Group, the New York advertising agency that created the “Evolve” campaign. “It’s a sign of somebody being prepared — if the opportunity arises — to think about their own health and the health and safety of their partner.”

But the pigs did not fly at two of the four networks where Trojan tried to place the ad.

Fox and CBS both rejected the commercial. Both had accepted Trojan’s previous campaign, which urged condom use because of the possibility that a partner might be H.I.V.-positive, perhaps unknowingly. A 2001 report about condom advertising by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that, “Some networks draw a strong line between messages about disease prevention — which may be allowed — and those about pregnancy prevention, which may be considered controversial for religious and moral reasons.”

Representatives for both Fox and CBS confirmed that they had refused the ads, but declined to comment further.

In a written response to Trojan, though, Fox said that it had rejected the spot because, “Contraceptive advertising must stress health-related uses rather than the prevention of pregnancy.”

In its rejection, CBS wrote, “while we understand and appreciate the humor of this creative, we do not find it appropriate for our network even with late-night-only restrictions.”

“It’s so hypocritical for any network in this culture to go all puritanical on the subject of condom use when their programming is so salacious,” said Mark Crispin Miller, a media critic who teaches at New York University. “I mean, let’s get real here. Fox and CBS and all of them are in the business of nonstop soft porn, but God forbid we should use a condom in the pursuit of sexual pleasure.”

Networks accept ads of a not-so-subtle sexual nature for erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, often restricting them to the wee hours.

Trojan has had no trouble finding other broadcasters to take its money. Jim Daniels, vice president for marketing, said that the company was spending more on this than any previous campaign, but declined to say how much. The commercial will run on ABC, NBC and nine cable networks, including MTV, Comedy Central and Adult Swim. Print ads will appear in 11 magazines and on seven Web sites. All will highlight a Web site, trojanevolve.com.

The 87-year-old company placed its first ad in trade magazines for pharmacists in 1927, when druggists still kept condoms behind the counter. Though out in the aisles for decades, condoms are still purchased furtively: while the average time shopping for a home-pregnancy test is 2.5 minutes, the average condom buyer takes just 7 seconds, according to research by Trojan. “We call it a drive-by purchase,” Mr. Daniels said. “People to this day are embarrassed.”

In its new commercial, the word “Trojan” is never uttered, and the logo appears only briefly on the bathroom’s vending machine and at the end. But with what according to A. C. Nielsen Research is 75 percent of the condom market (Durex is second with 15 percent, LifeStyles third with 9 percent), Mr. Daniels said the company was focusing less on growing market share than growing the market. The annual condom market is now $416 million, according to Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com.

“With a 75 percent share of the market, we can prioritize growing the category and increasing overall condom usage,” Mr. Daniels said. “Right now in the U.S. only one in four sex acts involves using a condom. That’s dramatically below usage rates in other developed countries. Our goal is to dramatically increase use.”

Sometimes that goal finds Mr. Daniels seeming less like he works for Church & Dwight — the consumer products company that purchased Trojan in 2001 and also makes Arm & Hammer baking soda — and more like an agitator for public health. Last year, for example, Trojan issued its first Sexual Health Report Card, grading 100 colleges and universities on criteria including their testing for sexually transmitted diseases, sexual assault courses and, of course, condom availability.

While Mr. Daniels does not disparage the company’s double-entendre-heavy “Trojan Man” campaign from the 1990s or similar Trojan Tales Web site today, the tone of the company’s promotions is moving away from “Beavis and Butthead” and toward “Sex and the City.”

“The ‘Evolve’ ad does a nice job of being humorous, but it’s also a serious call to action,” Mr. Daniels said. “The pigs are a symbol of irresponsible sexual behavior, and are juxtaposed with the condom as a responsible symbol of respect for oneself and one’s partner.”

The industry typically tries to reach men, but this campaign’s ads are running in Cosmopolitan and Glamour. Trojan sees growth potential in women customers, who make only 30 percent of condom purchases. In 2005 it introduced Elexa, a line of condoms in pastel packages that include what is known in industry parlance as a “pleasure accessory.”

Trojan and its competitors are adding the accessories across their entire product lines. The perennial challenge for condoms is the perception that they are unpleasant to use, so having an erotic add-on could increase sales as well as lower the incidence of disease and unintended pregnancies. The pleasure enhancement is a message that TV networks may be reluctant to broadcast.

“We always find it funny that you can use sex to sell jewelry and cars, but you can’t use sex to sell condoms,” said Carol Carrozza, vice president of marketing for Ansell Healthcare, which makes LifeStyles condoms. “When you’re marketing condoms, something even remotely suggestive gets an overly analytical eye when it’s going before networks’ review boards.”

I find it interesting that we doing so much to peddle green - again - but though things like condoms are "ok" to talk about these days - well, sort of - there is either a giant lack of understanding regarding  the connection between polluting and overpopulation, or somewhere somehow, "no one" wants to admit it. (Well, unless we are talking about the "Third World." That is, after all, where the momentum to peddle condom use began - when Western leaders decided in the 70s that those backward nations were going to cause a modern Malthusian kind of thing. )
Consider:
With over 6.6 billion human beings in the world, our species has reached into inch of our planet. Human population is expected to exceed nine billion by 2050. With 78 million new human beings being born each year, population growth has a direct impact on the environment. Many experts assert that  when women have better access to birth control, including condoms, they can decide when to have children and how many to have. Currently, 41% of pregnancies globally are unintended (try over 60% in the US and UK!). What would happen if women around the world have access to good health services so they can make their own decisions about reproduction?
According to Population Connection, our world population has grown more since 1950 than it has in the previous four million years.
As a result of population growth:
*Greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 400%
*80% of the original rain forests have been cleared or degraded
*27,000 species of animal or plant life each year become extinct, one every 20 minutes
*One-third to one-half of the Earth’s land surface has been developed or commercialized
*505 million people live in countries with scarce water conditions. By 2025, almost 48% of the Earth’s population will be living in areas of water scarcity.
    So why isn’t anybody talking about birth control as a way to “save the planet”? We can change all our lightbulbs, buy organic cotton, and drive hybrid cars but if we don’t have enough food to eat or clean water to drink, it simply won’t matter.