World Aids Day: Durex Launches #SomeoneLikeMe Campaign Asking Teenagers To Tell Them About Sex

Did You Enjoy Your First Time?

Did you know that less than 20% of women enjoy their first sexual encounter? Or that 40% of people aged between 19-24 are virgins? Despite the cocky bluster, there is so much that young people aren't sure about or aren't aware of when it comes to sex.

Off the back of this research, Durex partnered with MTV's Staying Alive Foundation to create a new conversation and campaign called Someone Like Me on World Aids Day.

The idea is that it's to reassure young people that a) a lot of other people are going through the same concerns and worries and b) practising safe sex is so important because it's easy to think that it's a disease that happens to 'other people'.

HuffPost UK Lifestyle spoke to Durex's global category director Volker Sydow, who said that the interesting thing is that although this is a global initiative, young people have the same concerns about sex no matter where they are from.

"The key worry is the uncertainty. Basically for the first time, many young people don't know everything but want to find out more. But then they find it hard to find people they can trust and who can help them. Of course they have their friends but where do they get their knowledge from? They find it hard to ask their parents and school has a certain attitude about it, so they go on the internet which isn't appropriate. With this campaign we wanted youths to speak for themselves - we don't try and influence them."

To this end, a special documentary has been made around the campaign, and Durex is encouraging people to share their stories and use the hashtag #Someonelikeme. For every share of the 1 Share 1 Condom YouTube video and every use of #Someonelikeme, Durex will donate one condom to HIV and AIDS projects around the world.

Are there misconceptions around condom use? The same lament of people not liking 'how it feels' has been used for a few generations, not just today's teenagers.

"It's all about HIV prevention," Volker says. "It can only be prevented when people know about it and using a condom isn't less enjoyable because then you can focus on the good part rather than worrying about whether you're going to get pregnant or catching an STI (sexually transmitted infection)."

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