HEALTH-BRAZIL:
Carnival's Condoms Sliced by Censorship

Mario Osava


RIO DE JANEIRO,  (IPS) - Safe sex and condom use are the themes of this year's main acts during the Rio carnival, adding fuel to the debate sparked by the Catholic Church when it cast doubt over the effectiveness condoms in preventing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The Grande Rio samba school made its way down the "Sambadrome" route in the early hours Monday morning with the lyrics "Let's wear the little shirt, my love," a reference to the Brazilian slang term for condom, 'camisinha', diminutive for "Venus's shirt".

It is also popular to say one is "wearing the t-shirt", meaning total dedication to the team, as in wearing the jersey of a certain football club.

The director of the Grande Rio school, Joasinho Trinta, Brazil's most famous 'carnavalesco', had originally set up a more sexually provocative show, which city authorities ordered blocked. Two of the eight parade floats in the entourage had two giant sculptures of people engaged in sexual acts.

Pressure from the Catholic Church and a ruling by the juvenile court -- a branch of the judiciary responsible for issues related to children -- led to some changes in the two floats.

"Adam and Eve" were partially covered on one float, and black plastic completely hid the figures in positions of the Kama Sutra -- a 9th century Hindu text on eroticism -- on another float. Trinta hung a big white sign on the latter that said "censored".

But the rest of Grande Rio's floats and dancing groups of men and women promoted condom use, in some cases with costumes made out of hundreds of latex "little shirts".

The samba school is making an essential contribution to preventing AIDS, a disease that continues on the rise among some segments of the Brazilian population, said Trinta, explaining his choice of theme to journalists before the event.

The Ministry of Health also took advantage of carnival season to distribute 11 million free condoms throughout the country, as part of its annual campaign against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases during this festive time of year.

In recent days, television and other media have been promoting the ministry's public service spot that says, "Nothing gets through the condom. Use it and trust it." The slogan is a response to the Catholic Church, whose national Bishops Conference issued a public statement in December stating, "Condoms are not 100 percent safe."

"The Church is against the use of condoms as a method to prevent AIDS, not only for moral reasons, but also for educational and pedagogical reasons... (and underscores) the grave responsibility (of those who) contribute to a distorted education of adolescents and youth," says the statement.

The Health Ministry's safe sex slogan originally was to be more aggressive against the Catholic Church's criticisms. The initial slogan was a play on words involving religious faith, but in the end it was the more blandly worded "use it and trust it."

The condom controversy, however, is international and predates carnival. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, said in an interview with the British news agency BBC in October that condoms do not ensure complete protection against AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases.

The margins of uncertainty should be included in information accompanying condoms, said the cardinal, "in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger," said Lopez Trujillo

The outcry against the Church, accused of hurting AIDS prevention efforts and taking a stance that could lead to more deaths from the disease, prompted cardinal Eugenio Sales, retired archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, to publish an article clarifying the position of the Catholic hierarchy.

Sales cites a study by for U.S. government agencies, published in July 2001, stating that condoms reduce the risk of HIV infection (the virus that leads to AIDS) by 85 percent.

"That means there is a risk of 15 percent," a fact that should be disseminated, given that many condom users believe the condom provides 100 percent protection, he argued.

The cardinal said that other studies indicate an increase in AIDS where there is greatest distribution of condoms, and that Uganda achieved more control over the epidemic than did other African countries by promoting monogamy and sexual abstinence.

He also criticised the World Health Organisation for failing to foment that strategy.

The Brazilian carnival, with its eroticism and fantasy, does not do much to encourage adherence to religious beliefs. Regardless of Joasinho Trinta's samba lyrics -- "Let's wear the little shirt" -- the carnival season has long been the period of greatest consumption of condoms.

According to manufacturers, 450 million condoms are sold in Brazil each year. The resulting average -- 2.5 per inhabitant -- is half that of wealthy countries, like the United States.

Demand for condoms increases 30 percent during Brazil's southern hemisphere summer, reaching its peak in carnival.