Fewer young people are having sex, but the teens and young adults who are sexually active aren’t using condoms as regularly, if at all. And people ages 15 to 24 made up half of new chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases in 2022.
The downward trend in condom usage is due to a few things: medical advancements like long-term birth control options and drugs that prevent sexually transmitted infections; a fading fear of contracting HIV; and widely varying degrees of sex education in high schools.
Is this the end of condoms? Not exactly. But it does have some public health experts thinking about how to help younger generations have safe sex, be aware of their options — condoms included — and get tested for STIs regularly.
I would immediately cite anti-LGBTQIA+ sentimentality as the contributing factor. While lots of people understand that homosexuals aren’t the only people who can contract the infection, I’m sure the treatments being aimed primarily at homosexuals as the highest risk group, will make certain people unwilling to believe it is a potential risk.
It sucks that safe sex isn’t a thing being discussed. However it does feel like anti-abortion laws would be unnecessary if teens had access to sought information. I’m sure with the advent of Internet based pornography, teens are being influenced more by that with no educational tools to say that people in pornography (I am sure not everyone across the industry follows health guidelines but for the “professionals” you’d hope they do) have access to testing and other health related care.
If we are going to be cynical about this, one reason I suspect sex education is no longer being thought would be to fall inline with twisted alt-right/conservative values about women NEEDING to have children. With lack of information about contraception, teens might believe they can’t be safe. Maybe they actually have access to contraception but aren’t aware. Maybe contraception is being banned. If you have no contraception, then the rate of pregnancy will increase and maybe those anti-abortion lawmakers wish to see more unwanted pregnancies instead of anyone wishing to engage in recreational sex that doesn’t aim for procreation.