Beaded Condoms and Indigenous Feminist Condom Cases
At NYSHN we love culturally safe ways of interacting with harm reductions materials (such as condoms, dental dams, etc) that move beyond only distributing and giving out supplies. In addition to the front line outreach with these supplies that we do in communities, one of the additional ways that we work with harm reduction materials is with our Indigenous Feminist Condom Cases and Beaded Condom Medallions.
As Indigenous peoples, our bodies are not empty spaces, despite the countless mainstream representations that demonize and misappropriate them. We use media and the arts as opportunities to not only push back on those misrepresentations, but to also reclaim and restore knowledge about our bodies, sexualities, gender identities and to better incorporate this knowledge within our communities. Young people in our network tell us all the time about the necessity of having these types of arts-based dialogues and discussions where we can create something together.
Indigenous Feminist Condom Cases:
Making Indigenous Feminist Condom Cases are a great way for people to create their own condom cases that also connect to the self-determination of how we want to talk about our bodies and cultures. In this activity we talk about the ways that public health responses about condom use are generally not culturally safe, do not represent our bodies or the many different realities in our lives. The messaging is also often disease-control only or deficit based. We respond by creating our own condom cases as a way to talk about sex and sexuality on our own terms and what harm reduction actually means to us.
You can see some great examples of Indigenous Feminist Condom Cases created by young people in our network below.
A photo of a beaded condom in between two containers of green and red beads. The condom is red and the beadwork looks like a strawberry.
A photo of a cardboard condom case, decorated with purple text that says "Hozho" and gold text that says "Walk in Beauty!". Beside the condom case is a Trojan condom with a purple wrapper.
A photo of a cardboard condom case, decorated with red text that says “Indigenous feminism is sexy because we pop our own cherries”, and drawings of cherries and a person with long flowing hair.
Beaded Condoms, Dental Dams & Medallions
Beaded condoms and medallions are a new activity to engage Indigenous youth to talk about and interact with safer sex materials in culturally safe ways. Connecting to our cultures through the traditional practices of beading, art and sewing are key to this activity. Indigenous youth will be lead through the process of creating full beaded condom medallions. These medallions are great to wear in community, at pow wows, and represent our gender fabulous selves! Beaded condoms and medallions are a media arts justice and reproductive justice spin on the traditional beaded medallions.
So why do we do this, you ask?
It prompts discussion and dialogue
Culture surrounds us and also helps to keep us be safe
It helps to de-shame and de-stigmatize the usage of condoms
It helps deepen the meanings and conversations we have when we do sex education and outreach
See images below of Beaded Condom Medallions in action! If you are interested in organizing these activities with us please contact us.
A photo of a partially beaded condom, and a needle and thread. The condom is clear and the beads make a rainbow pattern.
A photo of a condom beaded with a rainbow pattern sitting on top of a black non-phallic dildo. The dildo is painted with text that says "talented tongues", and a red mouth with a long tongue sticking out.
A photo of a beaded condom medallion on a black chain. The condom is blue, and is beaded to look like a turtle.
A photo of a beaded condom in between two containers of green and red beads. The condom is red and is beaded to look like a strawberry.
A photo of two red beaded condoms side by side. One has beading around the edges in a rainbow stripe pattern, and one has pastel pink beading around the edges.