The banana was brown, drooping, and coated in slime. As the girl approached it nervously, she appears to have second thoughts.

"It's squishy," she said.

"Yeah, it's been used all night," said the woman behind the counter, "Make sure there's no air in the tip," she says helpfully.

As part of National Condom Week, Bartlett Hall, RHA, and Planned Parenthood of Alaska held an event informally called "Condom Splits" Friday at the Hess Rec Center. The event showcased safe sex information, proper condom use demonstrations and how to avoid unwanted infection and pregnancy.

But despite the deadly serious nature of what was being discussed, the atmosphere in the Rec Center was more akin to a safe sex carnival, complete with pink Valentine's Day decorations, games, free goodies and the laughter and talk of students. A bowl of free condoms adorned one table, as students took turns encasing the banana and playing games.

Volunteers manning the stations wore condom nametags, and condom antenna on their heads. "We're condom fairies," said a volunteer. One of the women wore a black dress with condoms lining her hemline.

"We have several different games," said Kate McGlone, health educator for Planned Parenthood of Alaska.

McGlone said she was helping out at the event because she "has a passion for reproductive health and for teaching people how to protect themselves. It's important that people know how to keep themselves safe if they decide to be sexually active."

From 6-8 p.m., students topped off the distinctly unhappy looking banana with latex prophylactics to demonstrate that they know how to protect themselves and their partners through correct condom application and to win a free ice cream sundae. As the volunteers coached them, the students shyly applied their condoms to the phallic looking fruit.

"This is one STD free banana, I'll tell you that," said one guy dressed in a green camouflage jacket.

"Make sure you tie it off, so there's no leakage," said the volunteer.

"All throughout high school, people got stuff because they didn't know how to protect themselves," said Mary Bankhead, Resident Director of Bartlett Hall, and one of several "condom fairies" complete with condom antenna helping out at the event. "I think in my graduating class there was like 7 pregnant girls."

Two of Bankhead's sisters became pregnant in their teens, one at 16 and the other at 17. "They're fine now, but it was just really tough, and I don't know why exactly, but if they would have had other options, maybe they wouldn't have gotten pregnant."

Along with the Banana Split table were several other stations, such as the Valentine-Gram station where for a three dollar donation you can send your loved one a not too subtle Valentine gram complete with chocolates, prophylactics, and safe sex stickers and literature.

The Condom Jeopardy table was enlightening, in which contestants were asked questions like "What is the minimum number of liters of air a condom must hold to pass the manufacturer's test? (answer: 16), or "which is best, wearing one condom at a time carefully, or using two condoms at a time but not quite as carefully?" (answer: one at a time).

In a scene straight out of High School Health class, information and detailed pictures of every sexually transmitted disease known to woman and man were available at another table entitled "Love Sick". Showcased were Pubic Lice, Chlamydia, HIV/AIDS, Trichomoniasis, Hepatitis C, Herpes and Human Papilloma Virus. Several of the information cards showed STD infections of the eye, which leaves one wondering what is going on in the big cities these days.

While everyone who attended gained valuable information on sexual health, many of the students had differing opinions on when and how sex is appropriate, ranging from abstinence until marriage to those who became sexually active in grade school. "I first had sex in fourth grade," one girl says. "Fifth grade for me," says a guy in Carharts and cap.

"I'm a Christian, so I'm waiting till marriage," said student Ricky Lind. "I'm totally unaffected by those," he said, gesturing to the free condom bowl.

Jack Bohannon, an 18-year-old electric engineering major, felt a more pragmatic solution was in order. "Just be sure and cloak your dagger," he said.

Photo by Stephanie Taylor/ Sun Star
Freshman linguistics major Benjamin Young puts a condom on a banana while Planned Parenthood volunteer Kate McGlone explains the need for space at the top of the condom. "Condom Splits" was held Thursday night at the Hess Rec Center; participants who put the condom correctly on the banana got a banana split.

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