The NYC Condom program’s not-so-subtle slogan is “Grab a handful and go,” which, having set out yesterday to source some myself, I found to be rather a solid description of the process. And the Department of Health’s offerings are not just generous but also various: “NYC”-branded condoms are available for both men and women, and in addition to the curiously titled “Lifestyles Alternative Condom,” complimentary “Personal Lubricant” is also available at select locations.
The program’s architects have clearly taken their charge seriously, for, according to the city’s website, there are 309 distribution points within five miles of National Review’s office. (And that’s just in Manhattan; each of the other four boroughs is served equally well by the city; not to mention the likes of Planned Parenthood, the various colleges, YMCA and YWCA branches, and suchlike.) Indeed, there are so many condoms available in my Chelsea neighborhood that I’m beginning to wonder how I ever missed them.
Within a few blocks’ walk of the Empire State Building, such diverse institutions as the Cornell University Family Life Development Center, Ginger’s Bar, Kenneth Cole, the Bellevue Hospital Center, the Virology Clinic, Uncle Charlie’s bar, the Children’s Aid Society, the Harm Reduction Coalition, and the Museum of Sex hand out contraceptives with abandon. Had I literally grabbed “a handful” at each one of these distributors, I could have opened my own shop, but, as it happens, I needed to visit only the first five listed on the free iPhone app for my pockets to start bulging.
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