Responsible Olympic hanky-panky, please!

Right around the time this post goes online, the Olympic torch will be running by my house.  I’ll be standing on the corner with my camera and pretending that’s not my dog barking in the window, driven insane by all the “trespassers”.    I don’t know what these two weeks will hold for me and my family, but for many people – especially athletes and visitors – the Olympics will be one big party.  If you’re not somebody who regularly participates in international sporting events, you might not know that there’s an awful lot of hanky-panky and partying that goes on.

Unfortunately, when people are visiting another place, feeling excited and euphoric, with easy access to alcohol, drugs and parties, they don’t always set themselves the same boundaries as they would at home.  The numbers show that the incidence of sexual assault and violence against women increases at international sporting events like this one.  With more people engaging in risk activities (like heavy drinking and having unprotected vaginal or anal sex), many end up bringing home a not-so-nice souvenir in the form of a sexually transmitted infection (STI).  That’s why the Vancouver health promotion and harm reduction community has banded together to present Safe Games 2010 – a visitor’s one-stop on-line shop for information on staying safe and partying responsibly during the Games.

In addition to providing online information and links to local agencies (including PWN), Safe Games will be visible at events and in the media, distributing Safe Games kits, including condoms, lube and information about how and where visitors can get help if they find themselves in a pinch.  Condoms have been distributed at every Olympic Games since Barcelona 1992.  70,000 condoms were quickly used up at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and another 20,000 had to be brought in.  100,000 were distributed at Salt Lake City 2002, 130,000 at Athens 2004 and Beijing authorities distributed a whopping 400,000 (100,000 of them for athletes).  I am sure not everybody guages the worth of a city by how many condoms they can distribute when they host the Olympics … but I do.  The visibility of a safer sex message and availability of condoms at large, high-profile sporting events has the power to reduce HIV transmission and save lives.

Another initiative I’ve been following is Safe Vibe.  A campaign by WAVAW (Women Against Violence Against Women), Safe Vibe aims to build a movement to keep predators out of bars.  Check it out.  For more on HIV and Sport, see the last issue of our newsletter The Positive Side.  And to all you visitors to this beautiful city – happy (responsible) hanky-panky, and sorry about the barking dog!

-Miriam

This blog represents the ideas of individual writers, and does not necessarily reflect any formal stance taken by Positive Women’s Network.

This was posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Education & Resources, HIV Prevention, News . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.

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