24% of Young Adults Think Two Condoms Are Better Than One

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-03-09 15:34:00 UTC
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Can I get some comprehensive sex ed in the house?

It's disturbing that a quarter of young people aged 18-29 believe that doubling up on condoms -- which I just learned is called "double-bagging" -- works better, according to a new report by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. For the record, in this case less really is more: two condoms rubbing together is more likely to cause a rip and get a girl pregnant. Pairing a male condom with a female condoms is a terrible idea for the same reason. (I got a phone call while writing this post, and told my very intelligent 23-year-old friend how concerned I was by these findings. She said, "Wait, so that doesn't work? Good to know.")

Men are more likely to have misconceptions about preventing pregnancy: 25% believe a woman can prevent pregnancy by douching, or washing the sperm away after sex (only 10% of women buy this one). FYI: it's too late at that point to stop the sperm. And I'm outright alarmed that 18% of men believe having sex standing up decreases the risk of pregnancy. Sperm are feisty little things, and a little gravity is not going to stop them from trying to fertilize an egg that would rather be left alone, thank you very much. The study also found that Hispanic youth tended to be more misinformed about preventing unwanted pregnancy.

It's times like these that I realize I had really, really good sex education in school. The study also looks at the prevalence of other frequent myths, such as that contraception just isn't that effective (it is), that there's a pretty good chance you might be infertile anyway (there's not), and that petroleum jelly or Vaseline is an acceptable condom lubricant (okay, I didn't know this was not okay, so apparently my sex ed could have been even better). With teen pregnancy on the rise, these misconceptions are proving to be severely harmful -- and since 86% of unmarried young adults have had sex, they need to know the facts to protect themselves.

Photo credit: israelavila

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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