CONDOM ART: CFHC Announces Winners Of Statewide Contest
The California Family Health Council Inc. yesterday announced the six winners of its Condom Art Package Contest. Nearly 150 entries were received from teens and young adults under age 25. Winners were selected by teens who work as operators on the CFHC-sponsored Teen Reproductive Help Line. CFHC will print the six winning designs on 160,000 condom packages and distribute them at federally funded clinics across the state (CFHC release, 11/9). The designs feature musical notes, flowers, UFOs and fists in the air, among others, in a "mix of artistic themes and public health alerts." Critics charge that the program "trivializes the issue of teenage sexual activity" by using student designs to popularize condom use. But Venice Ventresca, 22, one of the winners, said, "Just because we talk about and decorate condoms doesn't mean we're telling kids to have sex" (Warrick, Los Angeles Times, 11/16). Charlene Khanlian, one of the contest administrators, said, "The contest was a cool, positive way to draw attention to chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases" (CFHC release, 11/9).
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