Rowdy with rubbers

"Let's go hand out some condoms!"\nJunior Cara Berg, president of the group Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters, has just finished prepping her group of 26 volunteers for Friday night's main event. \nIn a moment, they will descend on the Bloomington nightlife to distribute 5,000 condoms at downtown bars and restaurants. The goal is to advocate safe sex and raise awareness of sexual assault.\n"Studies have shown college students don't have enough condoms," graduate student and volunteer Scott Butler said. "So we know that if we go to these places, we can reach people we otherwise wouldn't."\nRAISE picked a cold evening for its gesture, but I think its outpouring of prophylactic goodwill made it a little warmer. Soon after the group set out, one of the volunteers approached me with a small zip-lock bag.\n"Did you get one of these yet?" she asked. "It has some information that might be good for your report."\nI opened up the folded pamphlet titled "How to use a Condom," but the information was actually beyond the scope of my report. However, the accompanying pink card directed its recipients to www.stopcampusrape.com, as well as to several other community resources for rape victims.\nThe Kirkwood patronage is sparse at 9 p.m. on a Friday night, so the event began slow. There's something awkward about approaching a total stranger with a bag full of hundreds of condoms.\n"You don't do it every day," freshman Evan Boggs said, clad in a red RAISE shirt.\nBoggs is a member of the IU version of the Men's Coalition, an unofficial student group that challenges traditional notions of masculinity.\n"We have this image of how a man should act," he said. "Part of it promotes negative behaviors like sexual assault."\nAfter a few slow hours, things started picking up. A group of young men spotted the bags. Since there were still plenty left, Berg allowed them an ambitious handful.\n"I'll take, like, ten of them," said one. "What kind are these? Do you have extra large?"\n"They're just basic Lifestyles," Berg responded. "They had better ratings in consumer reports."\n"Thank you so much," he went on. "We don't want to get HIV or anything. Peace out. Thanks for, like, teaching us something today."\nA small victory, perhaps, but Berg is passionate about her cause.\n"It's an incredibly important message to get out," she told me later. "Safe sex is not just about (sexually transmitted infections) and preventing pregnancy. It's also about communication and consent and emotional safety."\nRAISE normally spreads its message through presentations at dorms, classrooms and greek houses. The seminar includes a skit in which members role-play a male and female student involved in a sexual assault. Audience members ask questions of the characters and are then asked to assign the blame for the assault.\nBack on Kirkwood later in the evening, the volunteers moved in on a group of patrons who were obviously dragging out happy hour as long as possible. They expressed their thanks for the condoms and promised to use them later.\nDespite the enthusiasm of some, RAISE only handed out about 3,000 of the condoms, Berg said, citing a conflict with Dance Marathon as a possible reason. However, she said she feels the event was a success anyway.