Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Like the story about Lenin Gutierrez has perfectly illustrated, there has been a pushback from some Americans about covering up their faces in the wake of the coronavirus.

So it’s time we listen to what sex educators have to say. Sexologist Jill McDevitt recently made a Facebook post highlighting how four decades worth of research on condom use can help us get more people to use face masks.

“It’s not our first rodeo when it comes to convincing people they should wear a barrier for protection from a deadly virus,” McDevitt wrote on June 29th. She proceeded to list 10 tips on how to approach the problem, and it looks like her message has been heard. McDevitt’s post went viral, generating over 3K likes and 6,4K shares, contributing to bettering our public health in a time of great distress.

More info: thesexologist.org

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

McDevitt definitely knows what she’s talking about. She’s a sexologist, sexuality educator, sexual wellness coach, and feel-good activist. Her mission is to radically change and improve the way we think about and treat sexuality, ourselves, and each other. “I knew I wanted to be a sexologist since I was a young teenager and noticed how much shame, embarrassment, and misinformation there is about sexuality,” she told Bored Panda. “I started doing my own research and educating my friends and classmates. It became clear to me that shame exists in the shadows, and by talking about sexuality openly and honestly, it’s a lot better for everyone. I decided then to pursue it as a career and went on to earn 3 degrees (BA, MEd, Ph.D.) in human sexuality.”

The sexologist said she made the post “hoping to give people a set of tools, a new way of thinking, a new framework for applying what we already know about sexuality and how it might be helpful with the current crisis.”

According to McDevitt, condom use has many positives, including preventing pregnancy and STIs, yet there are all kinds of reasons why people who could benefit from using a rubber don’t buy one. “They don’t like the way they fit and feel. They don’t know how to talk about or negotiate condom use with a partner. Many of the same reasons I’ve heard people talk about not wanting to wear a mask.

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Image credits: Jill McDevitt

While wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the norm in places like China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, it has been polarizing in others, such as the U.S., where mixed messages have resulted in confusion about whether or not to get and — most importantly — use one.

It could have something to do with the fact that mixed messages have come from the very top. For example, tt the same time as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced new guidance that Americans should cover their faces in public to fight the spread, of COVID-19, President Donald Trump said it was “voluntary” and he himself would not do so. Then Vice-President Mike Pence was pictured visiting a health clinic without wearing one (which he later apologized for).

Emory University Global Health and Law Professor Polly Price told the BBC the situation in America now is a reminder of what happened during the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak. Then the US Surgeon General advised everyone to make and wear their own mask – just as instructions are now on the Centers for Disease Control’s website, guides were sent to newspapers.

“It was up to state and local governments whether they were going to require their populations to do it – not all did,” she explained.

Some cities imposed fines for not wearing them. “There were very few court challenges, but they generally upheld the authority of local governments to have face mask ordinances.”

“We do have a long tradition of individual rights, so even during the Spanish flu people would sue about the schools [being] closed. Or restaurants and bars were closed and people would sue about that and they routinely lost.”

Here’s what people said after reading McDevitt’s post

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Image credits: kjm__28

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Image credits: whatname2016

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Image credits: RoGreenfield

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Image credits: LindaRNielsen

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Image credits: jdtomlin68

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Image credits: Rystefn

Sexologist Uses 4 Decades Of Research On Condom Use To Show How To Get More People To Wear Face Masks

Greta is a Photo Editor-in-Chief at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication.In 2016, she graduated from Digital Advertising courses where she had an opportunity to meet and learn from industry professionals. In the same year, she started working at Bored Panda as a photo editor.Greta is a coffeeholic and cannot survive a day without 5 cups of coffee... and her cute, big-eared dog.Her biggest open secret: she is a gamer with a giant gaming backlog.

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Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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What do you think ?

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Kaori 4 years ago

As I'm Japanese,here condom should be normalized to mask level.

18points

Molly Cule 4 years ago

@Kate "Are you sure? I don't know, because, you see, a joke is meant to be a play on words, or a witticism, or a comic juxtaposition of disparate ideas to provoke a spontaneous explosion of laughter. So what you told me can't have been a joke... 'cause I didn't laugh."

2points

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Kaori 4 years ago (edited)

@Kate actually Daniel,Wearing masks on your eyes and wearing condoms on your hands help reduce your trolling.Don't worry about Covid and STD,as you already suffer from forever alone syndrome...(a.k.a total quarantine life even without any pandemic)

1point

Kate 4 years ago

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mph seti 4 years ago

Thanks to the petulant orange bigot in the white house, a lot of people in the US think wearing a mask in public makes them a SJW snowflake. Ideally, I hope they all get Covid 19. But realistically, they'll likely spread it to a lot of innocent people who are being intelligent about all of this...

13points

Kate 4 years ago

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Uncommon Boston 4 years ago

Wearing masks is mandatory here. A group of construction workers entered the store to purchase lunch. Two of them were not wearing masks and boasting about personal freedom, the rest of the group walked faster to distance themselves from them, as if those two were not part of their group. Clearly they were embarrassed. I do speak up when people don't wear masks, the number of people who thank me afterwards always amazes me. Not wearing a mask is selfish, your comfort is more important than the lives others -- what happened to love thy neighbor?

12points