A 'starter' condom for 12 year olds?

A Swiss company is selling extra-small condoms intended for tween and teen boys. Will this promote public health, or just underage sex?

Condoms for kids?
(Image credit: (Corbis))

A Swiss company has begun selling extra-small condoms—called "Hotshots" — made for boys as young as 12, after a government study found that adolescents in Switzerland are not using proper protection when having sex. The Swiss Aids Federation and family planning groups pushed for the smaller condoms—which for now are only being sold in Switzerland—on the theory that teens would be more likely to wear Hotshots, which are 1.7 inches wide, than standard condoms, which are 2 inches wide. Will marketing condoms to 12 year olds keep them safe, or just encourage them to have sex?

Selling kids tiny starter condoms is 'so wrong': This sends the "worst possible message" to boys, says Rachel Henwood in Ecademy. "Randy pint-sized" men already see sex everywhere, and think it's cool. Tell 12-year-old boys that having sex is okay as long as you put on a Hotshot, and they'll run out looking "for 12-year-old (or God forbid, younger) girls to test them out on."

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