This year, to celebrate both Valentine’s Day and National Condom Week (from February 14th to the 21st), in order “to raise awareness about condom use, and to make sure people have all the facts about condoms,” Planned Parenthood Los Angeles launched a Facebook application that lets you send virtual versions of Planned Parenthood’s Proper Attire® condoms to all your friends. 

The more you send, the more colors and styles you can unlock—from basic to colored, studded, and even extra-large. (Editor’s Note: will the studded one bring me more virtual pleasure?)

Sounds like it could be a fun way to spread the message of safe sex with your friends, but does anyone else see how this could be a problem?  Most people I know, myself included, are embarrassed about the idea of buying condoms in a store, so why would I want to flaunt a virtual one on my Facebook page? (Although they’d keep your page protected from viruses, am I right?! I’ll be here all week; don’t forget to tip your wait staff!)

Like… what if you accidentally send one to your mom (who recently joined FB for some scary reason)? Or, if she looks at your page and wonders why you’ve been sent 15 virtual condoms?  Imagine trying to explain that one to her: “Well, my friends know how many condoms I go through….er….I’m always safe!”

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Everyone loves an e-card. Yeah, they’re kind of cheesy, and they usually feature singing animals, but who the hell doesn’t want a singing polar bear wishing them a happy birthday?But not all e-cards bear good news. According to CNN.com, a website called inSpot.org has started producing e-cards that tell the recipients to get checked for STDs. So ladies, if you’re trying to figure out how to break it to the cutie you hooked up with last weekend (whose phone number you do not have, but email address you found while stalking him on Facebook), you can let him know via email that he left the party with more than empty condom wrappers.

Maybe the inSpot peeps will make a Facebook application next? Or maybe a Urine Cup you can send as a gift? That would make things so much easier.

[photo courtesy inSpot.org]

Thankfully, I’m not one to get horrible PMS. I get cramps – oh yes, do I get cramps – and there are a few days there when I feel like my entire body is made of big, fatty bricks, but I’m not one of those girls who threaten to kick your ass when you cut in front of her in the beer pong line or bursts into tears in the middle of the street for no reason during her period.

But what if you or somebody you know is one of those girls? Like it or not, PMS can be brutal; for the person suffering, as well as the people on the peripheral of the sufferer. PMS has been known to start fights, cause boyfriends to stand in complete confusion, and turn your best friend into a sudden raging beeetch who screams in your face for no reason. This is why, friends, we all need PMSBuddy.

PMSBuddy is a new handy-dandy website that lets you know when the women in your life are about to step off the ledge known as PMS. Get your friends to give you personal information about their flow (weird? You decide), and then add it to PMSBuddy‘s colorful little chart. In no time, you’ll be keeping track of all those wayward tears, tempter flair-ups, and immediate needs for chocolate. Plus, you’ll be able to stop taking anything personally during that time-span! Read More »