THE WORD’S CONDOM, KEV

When I was a kid in a small town in New Zealand the local council got all in a tizz because a sex education film was coming to town. Not for us children but for our parents.

And the silly uptight burghers in New Plymouth, New Zealie, came up with a compromise to preserve the town’s morals. They wouldn’t ban it. But fathers could go and see it one night and mothers went the next. Presumably many of them then shared the same bed those nights  But the town’s reputation was preserved.

That was in the 1950s. There was no sex education in schools. Teachers even skipped over the reproduction systems of frogs when as teenagers we did something really obscene – we dissected them.

And I had a flashback to those structured, high collar days today when I read the comments by our next Prime Minister when he was asked about sex education and – shock, horror – condoms.

I know I have described Kevin Rudd as prissy but people trying to get inside his head will have a field day with this one. Rudd was asked whether he had given his children advice on safe sex.

His response: ‘I believe in proper sex education – through schools and through parents on the basis of the agreed protocols and their school administrations. I think that’s the best way to go.’

Imagine a naturally inquisitive child in the Rudd household saying; “Dad…. Where do babies come from?’ and Dad goes off on a tangent about ‘agreed protocols’. Try and get away with that on Rove or You Tube.

It apparently got worse when somebody – again shock, horror – mentioned the word ‘condom’ when talking about sexually transmitted diseases.

Ever the diplomat, Rudd lapsed into public service lingo again. ‘In terms of effective AIDS prevention mechanisms, contraception along the lines you described is appropriate’. “Prevention mechanisms’ – that’s Rudd-speak for condom, rubber, franger,  French letter, or nighthood.

I can’t imagine how he would respond if a troubled youth told him: ‘I didn’t use a franger and now my girlfriend’s up the duff.’

You can almost imagine the old Howard sounding like something out of the Fifties on modern social issues but the NEW Rudd?

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2007