There are many metrics by which one might differentiate the Republican from the Democratic National Conventions, but if there is one that has struck me immediately since my arrival in Denver, it's the fact that over my first 24 hours here, it seemed, no matter where I went, somebody wanted to hand me a condom.
And it’s not simply at the events. Events such as the star-studded celebrity gala Monday night hosted by Rolling Stone Magazine and Trojan Condoms. The event showcased a stand up performance by comedian Bill Maher, and featured luminaries on the red carpet such as Spike Lee, Susan Sarandon and Alan Cumming - and of course, plenty of condoms. Young, lightly clad women passing them out at the door, carnival-style condom trivia games, a condom bus. Additionally, there are several evening mixers hosted by Planned Parenthood with plenty more available.
But people are also handing them out on street corners and in doorways, and the overall effect is to put sexual health and pregnancy prevention consciousness front and center - which is clearly a good thing (and, I suspect, a good message for many of the convention-goers on this particular trip).
Nevertheless, despite the quality and importance of the messaging, there's no getting around the fact that being handed a condom by a complete stranger every hour or two is inherently amusing.
And it's happened enough, that it becomes possible to gleam patterns in the distribution. The first condom I was given was a standard lubricated Trojan, quite unremarkable. The second, however, was a larger-sized "magnum" version. I laughed and thanked the young man handing them out for his vote of confidence, and the next day my first condom was also a magnum. Perhaps I was impressing people more than I believed?
But then I noticed the pattern, the women distributing the merchandise had exclusively handed me standard-issue Trojans, while the men - to a person - offered the jumbo editions.
Now I am not one to speak to the social-psychological implications behind which condom I'm handed. Perhaps, if I were a man passing them out, passing out a large sized condom to a fellow male of the species would feel like a friendly pat on the back, and I would save the standard sized for the women. It doesn't seem too likely that the choice of condom had sexual innuendo attached, but if it did... well, the mind boggles.
I won't be attending the Republican Convention. As a partisan progressive Democrat, I'd have no interest beyond the anthropological, and that would get old fast. Something tells me, though, that in contrast to the plentiful prophylactics and accompanying messaging, the RNC will be more of a, shall we say, abstinence-only affair.
(This is a diary spun off a quick vlog at Green Mtn Daily and Zannel's Politics Blue that I did from the convention yesterday.)