So far my condom distribution (for the Great American Condom Campaign) has gone really well. On April 1st, I gave away about 150 of them at a Campus Women's Coalition table in the Union. At the table, we were telling people about the dangers of fake clinics. So many of fake clinics tell young women half-truths from old studies when these young women need real facts and help or Plan B or birth control or access to abortion.

I went to a fake clinic in Sioux Falls, SD, and all they cared about was if I was pregnant. I took their free over-the-counter pregnancy test and as soon as they found out I wasn't pregnant and asked if "I knew who the baby's father would have been," they were basically done with me. They didn't offer me STD information and when I asked, they handed me a stack of pamphlets on abstinence, second virginity, and how condoms don't work. The 'counselor' even assured me that "We in the medical profession don't worry about a missed period. Just don't have sex until your next period at least to make sure." She ended all of this nonsense with a prayer, thanking God that I was on my parents insurance, that I was a student, and for other things she read off my stack of forms.

All of the half-truths and them pushing their conservative agenda angered me. Vulnerable women need to know that fake clinics can't be trusted. So I took the Feminist Majority Foundation's idea and did Don't Be Fooled Day with CWC. I plastered the busiest buildings on campus with posters that said in giant letters "DON'T BE FOOLED! Come to the Union..." And it worked. We were able to expose these fake clinics and encourage people to use things that actually work - condoms, birth control, Planned Parenthood services, etc. 

In addition to the 150 condoms given out at Don't Be Fooled Day, I've given out about two dozen at a GSA table and another two dozen to the members of CWC and GSA. The next big giveaway event is in one of the dorms. An RA came to a CWC meeting and asked us to put together a safe sex program and present it, so we're doing that next Wednesday. It's called Battle of the Sexes: The Condom War and it's going to test people's safer sex knowledge, then expand on that knowledge. Everyone attending will get a free condom and if it's a success, I'm planning on taking it campus-wide next semester.