Condoms - a Priceless Gift of Love? (20 February 2003)

Dear Sir

Condoms – a Priceless Gift of Love?

How many condoms did you get for Valentine’s Day, B Smuts (Tabletalk letters 20 Feb 2003)?

Call me old fashioned, but I’d rather receive cards, chocolates and flowers. For me, the priceless gift of love would be a diamond ring given by a man who has been sexually restrained and will be true to his wedding vows. Men all want to marry virgins – if that is what I have to give, is it too much to expect the same of them?

Condoms are the tackiest possible Valentine’s present. No self-respecting woman could even feign delight at such a vulgar proposition.

B Smuts asserts that condoms are priceless because they “afford protection”, without answering any of the concerns Margrit Sokolic raised in her letter. If condoms have a failure rate for HIV/AIDS infections of at least 13 % even when used 100 % correctly, how can anyone justify entrusting their life to such a thin piece of latex?

Jeanine McGill