Jenice Armstrong: CVS urged to 'free' condoms
ANNABEL WULFHART, a Temple soph, is embarrassed to buy condoms at drugstores that keep them locked in display cases. "I definitely would never ask someone to unlock them so I could buy them," said Wulhart, who's studying elementary education. "It's a matter of privacy."
ANNABEL WULFHART, a Temple soph, is embarrassed to buy condoms at drugstores that keep them locked in display cases. "I definitely would never ask someone to unlock them so I could buy them," said Wulhart, who's studying elementary education. "It's a matter of privacy."
"I'm 22. But if I was 19 or 18, it would be even worse. Normally, I depend upon someone else to have them. I definitely use them, but I don't usually get them for myself."
She's smart about using condoms to protect herself from sexually transmitted diseases, but not so smart about relying on someone else to provide them. To be consistent about enforcing a "no-glove, no-love" maxim, a gal needs her own supply.
And unfortunately for Wulfhart and others who share her feelings, at CVS stores in certain Philadelphia neighborhoods, most condoms are locked inside display cases. You have to get someone to open the cases for you.
"Of course, the one you ask is never the one who has the key," Wulfhart pointed out. "Then you have to wait in front of the case."
I know young people these days are more open about sexuality than were those in the past, but times haven't changed all that much. There's still a lot of shame and guilt when it comes to sex. That's why the the folks at Change to Win say they are behind an effort to get CVS to stop locking up condoms.
At noon today, activists plan to present the CVS store at Broad Street and Girard Avenue with a giant Valentine's Day card saying, "Have a Heart: Unlock the Condoms."
"To put up this unnecessary barrier is a dangerous practice," said Joanna Bouldin, of Change to Win, a Washington-based labor organization. "Philadelphia is facing an HIV- infection crisis. We are at five times the national average. HIV is the number one killer of black women between 25 and 34 years old.
"This is a disease that's particularly ravaging people of color in this city," she continued. "For a company to put barriers to people making wise choice, we feel is unacceptable."
Gary J. Bell, executive director of
BEBASHI (Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues), said in an e-mail, "The practice of 'locking up condoms' in low-income neighborhoods, especially communities of color where rates of HIV, STI's [sexually transmitted diseases] and pregnancy continue to soar, is both short-sighted and dangerous.
"While we recognize the right of retailers to determine how to showcase their merchandise, they also have a responsibility to be 'good neighbors' within the communities where they have chosen to place their stores," Bell wrote. "Therefore, we feel that this particular policy is detrimental and insensitive to communities that are being ravaged by sexual health issues."
Change to Win said it had done an informal survey of Philly-based CVS stores and found that one in five locked up condoms. They claim that the stores with the locked condoms are in black neighborhoods.
CVS's response? "All CVS stores sell condoms that are unlocked and accessible. In stores where condoms have been heavily shoplifted, products are kept in a locked display to ensure there is stock available for customers to purchase. Decisions to do this are based on the theft experience of the store, not the location of that store. However, even in stores that do have a locked condom display, we also maintain a selection of condoms that are not locked and are available for customers to purchase without asking for assistance from store employees."
(For the record, when I visited the CVS at Broad and Girard, an employee told me about the locked case but also told me where I could find some that weren't locked up. And while there definitely were more in the locked case, there was an adequate supply on a nearby wall.)
I spoke with several men inside and outside the store, and most told me they felt CVS had no choice but to lock up condoms because of shoplifting.
"They know people are going to come in and steal," said Martin Eady as he stood on the corner talking with a friend.
CVS accused Change to Win of being motivated by something other than public health.
"It is important to recognize that the driving force behind these accusations is a consortium of labor unions called Change to Win (CtW)," the statement said. "Since early 2007, CtW has threatened to disparage our company unless we agreed to waive our employees' right to vote in confidential union elections . . . CtW's inaccurate allegations and accompanying media outreach is their latest attempt to achieve this objective."
Bouldin of Change to Win says the group's motivations are solely health-related.
"Our position is that all condoms should be unlocked . . . that's the message that we're going to be sending [today]."
Regardless as to what Change to Win's history with CVS is, the issue of condoms is a real one. As Greg Parker, a longtime resident whom I spoke with outside CVS yesterday pointed out, "Some people don't feel comfortable asking [for condoms]. They should be able to get it" for themselves. *
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