Why Sweden Wants to Send a Condom Into Space

Best invention ever?
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 3, 2016 8:03 AM CDT
Sweden Is on a Mission to Send a Condom Into Space
Sweden wants the world to know it thinks the condom is one of the most important objects on the planet.   (Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU))

Sweden wants everyone talking about contraceptives. So in a voice-over video message to NASA, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) points out that the US has a long history of sending objects into outer space, and then proposes that NASA get to work on launching, well, a condom. The campaign coincides with World Contraception Day, which was last Monday, and should not be a surprising choice given the Scandinavian country's reputation for sexual liberty and, as the Local reports, advocating for objects to be sent into space. (Last year, Swedish brothers launched a doughnut 20 miles high just because no one had ever done it before.) The RFSU points out that the condom is one of civilization's greatest inventions.

In the RFSU's pitch to NASA, which the group posted to YouTube, it points out that a condom could prove quite useful if aliens visit our planet and "find some hot Earthlings." But even more vital, the group says, the condom is "so important in letting every human decide about their own body and their own lives." In an interview with Vice, Emma Günter at RFSU says they chose this campaign because humor and surprise are some of the most effective ways to communicate important things. "That's what we want—for contraceptives to be prioritized, politically." She goes on to say that she believes in some kind of extraterrestrial life, and while she has "no idea what it might look like," she'd "love it if they got hold of a condom." (A Swedish sex toy company is also trying to revolutionize the condom.)

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