By Katie Wolf

Guest Columnist

On March 17 my day started out like any other day. It was a Tuesday, so that meant I had to go to my Radio-TV Newswriting class. Every Tuesday we have a news quiz. One of the questions on the quiz was something along the lines of “who said today that condoms will not help solve the AIDS crisis in Africa?” I was in shock. Who would be so stupid to say that? I didn’t know the answer, so I wrote a joke instead, hoping to at least get a laugh from the professor for partial credit.

For those of you who haven’t heard about this story yet, the correct answer is “The Pope.” It was Pope Benedict XVI who said HIV/AIDS is “a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem.”

This has sparked a lot of anger across the world. BBC News reports that many states of the European Union are criticizing the pope for his remarks.

CNN’s Roland S. Martin wrote a heated article regarding this as well, saying, “Frankly, Pope Benedict clearly shows he doesn’t get it.”

My favorite commentary on this issue was from The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart: “The pope went on to say that smoking cures cancer, and that if you’re looking for a quick morning pick-me-up, try heroin … But who am I to argue with the pope? I mean, if anyone is the expert on sex … ,” he trailed off as the audience began to laugh.

Picking up where Stewart left off, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the pope should stick to things he knows. Sex is not one of them. And if he’s going to do otherwise, he should at least be intelligent.  He completely missed the mark on this one.

In an area that’s heavily influenced by the spread of HIV/AIDS, it’s frustrating that this is the route the pope is choosing to take. It’s completely naïve, if not irresponsible, to withhold information and resources on safe sex under the assumption that people are listening to what Catholicism teaches in regards to sex. It’s the concept of theory versus practice: Abstinence and marital fidelity are great in theory.

Surely those methods are the best ways to prevent the spread of all STDs (I don’t think there’s any argument about that). But this theory is rarely put into practice — especially when according to Vatican figures, baptized Catholics make up only about 17 percent of the population in Africa.

This issue runs deeper than the pope’s ignorant comment. Clearly the use of condoms will not spread HIV/AIDS. I suppose what he meant was that endorsing the use of condoms will promote sexual activity, which puts people at a higher risk of contracting the disease.

We get it already! The pope doesn’t approve of premarital sex and infidelity. But come on, we have to be realistic. It’s time to stop this fairy tale where all people abstain from sex unless they’re married. Until the pope can find a way to stop sex from feeling good, people are still going to have sex.

Time.com ran an interesting article on March 19 about sex education, titled “How to End the War over Sex Ed.” I think the pope would be a better man for reading it. Or at least he would be a smarter man.

Many people will argue about which and how much information needs to provided when it comes to sex. But I think that we all want people to be healthy and safe. In order for this to happen, we need to stop sweeping the issue of sex under the rug and face it head on. “Don’t do it” just isn’t cutting it anymore. Sex can be fun. Sex can be dangerous. Sex, above all else, should not be taken lightly. That’s the message we need to be sending. 

If any of you are wondering what my answer on the news quiz was, I wrote this: “An idiot.” I stand by my answer completely.