Bill Gates Pledges $100k to New Condom

You certainly can't please all the people all of the time, nor some of the people most of the time but there appears to be a group that you can't please any of the time -- even if you're trying to increase their pleasure. Bill Gates has offered $100,000 to anyone who can improve on the condom (Slate). Little has been done in that vein for the past 50 years and the old complaints of lost sensation, smell, dryness and the like have not really been addressed in all the intervening years. Now who could possibly be against a worthwhile project like this? A more comfortable and pleasing condom would increase pleasure for one or both partners, push more men to use condoms (thus reducing unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs (particularly HIV)) and, well, make a hell of a lot of people a hell of a lot happier -- maybe pushing us on the road to peace and prosperity (okay maybe I'm exaggerating a little here). 

One could assume the religious right might be against the project and maybe the Catholic church for that matter. But what about the average Joe and Jane? Apparently many are outraged by the attempt to improve male pleasure. "Suck it up, buddy," seems to be a popular rejoinder. Others have ribbed that it is a boon for "creeps" and "pervs." Seriously? Has the feminist wave hit us so hard we can't try to increase male pleasure (much less the female variety)? Is it really creepy to actually enjoy sex? And what does this message tell those men responsible enough to actually use a condom, rather than risking it all for a one-night stand? The rather absurd morality of some Americans has always startled and aroused deep amusement in me, but this is a new level of absurd provocation. What's next? Genital mutilation for American men?