Condom Sense: A Guide to Sexual Survival in the New Millennium (Paperback)

~ Monica Sweeney (Author), Rita Kirwan Grisman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a forthright, practical handbook, Sweeney (aided by co-author Grisman) delivers her urgent message: "a condom can keep you from dying." The v-p of medical affairs at New York's Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center and a member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, Sweeney marshals sobering statistics (there are 47 million people with AIDS worldwide; by 2001, there were 15 million children orphaned by the disease) and delivers firm recommendations to sexually active Americans ("Make an appointment. Get the test. Make those calls. Use protection. That's how the spread of AIDS stops"). While HIV-cocktails are expensive and far from universally available, and an AIDS vaccine is years in the future, condoms are cheap and plentiful, Sweeney says, and anyone-church, organization, political party-that withholds information about sex and condom use is "condemning people to death." Sweeney's hard-line position may scare some sexually active people-and as long as it scares them into having protected sex, that's just fine with her.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Many people believe that AIDS has moved from being the "gay men’s disease" it was thought to be during the 1980s and early 1990s to being a disease that affects mainly people in the developing world. While the numbers of deaths in the developing world do indeed dwarf those in the industrialized world—who can now extend their lives for many decades through anti-retroviral drugs—two important facts still remain: There is no cure for AIDS, and unprotected sex can kill.

The public health messages of the 1990s have been forgotten as a new generation of young men and women throughout North America and Europe are returning to sex without condoms, resulting in an increase in HIV numbers after several years of decline. Even senior citizens are contracting the disease they thought was the province of other age groups and other cultures.

Dr. Monica Sweeney is on the front line of the fight against AIDS, both as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and as a doctor working in the heart of the inner city at the Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center in Brooklyn, New York. Every day, she sees the toll that HIV and AIDS take on families and neighborhoods. Direct and uncompromising, Condom Sense focuses on the reality of human lives and choices. Boldly and honestly, it tells it how it is—what condoms are, who makes them, where to get them, and how to use them. A passionate, practical, detailed guide to living a healthy, safe sexual life in the twenty-first century, Condom Sense will not only make you a condom expert but could even save your life.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 106 pages
• Publisher: Lantern Books (December 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590560779
• ISBN-13: 978-1590560778
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #845,038 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, March 28, 2005

By	ulysses Kilgore III (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is imperative that the message in this book becomes an indelible imprint in the minds of all of our planet's human
inhabitants.Each of us must accept personal responsibility for
bringing the spread of AIDS to a screeching halt.That is the
essence of Dr. Sweeney's powerful appeal.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars condom sense, February 15, 2005

A Kid's Review

This should be required reading for everyone, it is very easy to read, entertaining, and very informative. This book is good for all ages I hope the authors will translate it into spanish.
Maria

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb guide! Give this to someone and save a life., January 19, 2005

By	Jason Stevens "NYGUY" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I thought I had all of the facts about condoms and STDs, and I was dead wrong. Do YOU know which, if any, forms of Hepatitis a condom protects you against, for instance? I didn't. This guide covers the material comprehensively.

Sweeney packs the guide with practical, life-saving information. It's a clear, concise, and (actually) entertaining read, despite the topic. I'm giving it to my friends for Valentine's Day. Everybody -- White/Black - Straight/Gay - Man/Woman - Adult/Child -- needs to either be informed for the first time, or have the facts laid out for them again. Condom Sense is a great way to do that. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.