Don't know what "raw-dogging" is? Neither did we. Thanks to "More Than Just Sex" however, we will never forget.
The new series of video PSAs, made by city teens with some help from the Community Health Network, attempts to "create realistic quality and youth-friendly messaging around teen sexual health."
For example, in "The Importance Of Condoms," a parody of drug commercials, a teen is seen promoting a product called "Unprotected Sex." He uses phrases like "all glove, no love" and "raw-dogging" (sex without a condom). And when it comes time to list the product's side effects? HIV and "Baby Mama Drama," among others.
The ads were made with taxpayer money from the New York Department of Health, and public reaction has been mixed. From The New York Daily News:
While state DOH spokesperson Peter Constantakes defended the tax-dollar sponsored videos saying they weren't "obscene" or "x-rated," some pols had problems with the spots.
A spokeswoman for State Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) says easy access to the video is "alarming."
It "advocates for safe sex in a roundabout way, and any confusion this ad may cause could be hazardous for the youth population of our city and state," said Golden spokesman John Quaglione.
Assemblyman Rafael Espinal (D-Bushwick) said the videos "capture the realities of what is happening in inner-city neighborhoods like the ones I represent."
But the raw-dog themed video, "shouldn't be accessible to children under 13," he said. "The language is too raw."
City Health Department statistics show teens make up a quarter of STD patients.
Watch the "The Importance Of Condoms" below and to see the others, go here.