According to news papers in New York City, "CVS STORES in communities of color are far more likely to keep their condoms under wraps than in predominately white neighborhoods, community activists have charged.
A fifth of New York City CVS stores keeps its condoms in locked cases, but that jumps to over half in areas where most of the residents are minorities, according to labor union coalition Change to Win.
The group charges that the lockdown discourages condom use in minority areas, which have been hit especially hard by HIV and AIDS. Of the 17 city CVS stores with secured condoms, 11 were in neighborhoods that were less than half white.
Having to ask a clerk for help is awkward and embarrassing, said Valerie Byrdsong, 33, a shopper at a Harlem CVS where all but a dozen small packs were under lock and key.
"Who wants them all in your business?" she asked. "It should be between you and your partner - not the whole neighborhood."
All CVS stores sell some unlocked condoms, and locked displays are used only in shops "where condoms have been heavily shoplifted," said CVS spokeswoman Joanne Dwyer."
This may bring up questions about racism, but it also begs the question - what else is locked away in these stores? The stuff that is small, popular, and easily palmed. That may be about poverty - and morality? - but the condom and its sellers do not have much control over that, they are business to make money. Consider what happened in many deprived areas of American cities, starting in the 1960s. Local stores closed in droves because they could not make a profit due to theft...perhaps the evils of society should be at question, not the need on the part of a pharmacy chain to stay in business in neighborhoods who, without them, would have no local access to these and other goods. And, are we not always preaching about taking the embarrassment factor out of buying them in the first place? Perhaps this might be a great target for agencies in the business of educating about safe sex to figure out how to push for more openess - and comfort - not just in us, but in buying.
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