Another year, another potentially dangerous viral video trend. You’ve seen it all over social media. For the successful attempts, the person looks like a straight serial killer, only instead of a mask of human skin or other creepy things, it’s a water filled condom. For the failed attempts, it just looks like two homies getting up close and personal (usually in a bathtub) and having the weirdest one-sided water balloon fight ever. Either way, these videos have found their place in current pop culture and you know what they say, once something is on the internet, it's there to stay. Just saying, what’s a better intro to the birds and the bees talk to your future children than an old video of a water filled condom dropping on mom or dad?
For those of you who have no idea what the Condom Challenge is, the premise is this: one must fill a condom with water and tie it off in a certain manner, so it won't break. Then, one person is the designated “Condom Face” while the other is the “Dropper.” In a designated splash zone, the Dropper holds the condom balloon above the head of the second person and drops it, which, if successful, “the condom will create a watery, latex globe around the person's neck and face before breaking” according to an article by NY Daily News. If unsuccessful, “the condom bounces away like an un-popped water balloon or unfurls as it empties.”
Originally created to show just how durable condoms are, if you tie off the condom and drop it correctly, it will do its job much like a condom in real life. However, if you use it incorrectly, things will break and get messy, just like in real life as well. Talk about spicing up a sex ed class.
Some news outlets, however, have compared these viral videos to the ASL Ice Bucket Challenge and other potentially harmful “challenge” videos to the safety hazards that come along with it. First, there is the concern that if the condom breaks after it’s still wrapped around a person’s head, suffocation is too real of a risk. There’s also the risk that if the condom balloon pops and all the water floods into a mouth, choking could be a danger.
As entertaining as this challenge may be, many of the participants are not aware of the risks that come along with it, just like people often do not know the risks that come along with intercourse. Who would have thought you would be learning all about sex from basically a glorified water balloon fight?
If you haven’t guessed by now, this whole challenge is one big metaphor that parents and public schools didn’t have the creative capacity/lack of liability concerns to come up with or promote. Let's just be #blessed this isn’t the same condom challenge where you legit snort condoms and pull them out of your mouth -- that’s a TBT no one wants to see.
Although this challenge does come with some risks, it also highlights the risks and usage of condoms in an interesting and hilarious way. So, risk it if you wish, or maybe sit this one out, scroll through Vine, and allow yourself to embrace all that is the *new* condom challenge.
