I read your advice to the person who was allergic to latex condoms and wanted to know how she could have safe sex. You suggested using a female condom or two condoms. Why didn't you suggest "abstinence" or "sex only with spouse"?

--E.

While I agree that abstinence is the most reliable means of avoiding STDs and pregnancy, it is, by definition, not a means of safer sex. In people who choose to be sexually active, use of a latex condom (and their brains in choice of partner) is the best way to make sex safer. Note I do not say "safe" -- condoms do not prevent STDs or pregnancy 100 percent.

Also, sex only with a spouse is not a guarantee; as a gynecologist I have had many women come to me with an STD contracted through an unfaithful spouse, or through a spouse who had a previous relationship or marriage. Each individual is the best judge of her own circumstances, and sometime a married, faithful woman may still have reason to believe that she needs the protection of a condom. This is not condonement of marital infidelity, but rather a comment on the sad, but true, reality of some people's lives.