The latest social media craze, known as the condom challenge, has caused health experts to urge parents to remain vigilant of their children as kids are more susceptible to these social media fads. The condom challenge consists of unwrapping a male condom, snorting it up one nostril, inhaling it until it slides to the back of the throat and then reaching out and pull it out through the mouth.
Origins of the Condom Challenge
The challenge originally became popular in 2007, but due to the mass influence of YouTube, several videos have been responsible for reviving the relevance of the challenge’s two main ways to be performed. The first one is the most visually shocking one with people snorting a latex condom only to be pulled out from their throat, while the second one consists of a water-filled condom that is dropped onto a person’s head.
Originally created in the 1990’s by Matt ”the tube” Crowley for one of his performances for the Jim Rose’ Circus sideshow, it remained asleep and unknown to popular audiences until May 2006, when it was posted in Break.com. In the video, a young man was featured successfully completing the challenge, and after that, it remained low-key until 2012 when it was officially baptized as the condom challenge.
Condom challenge: health and safety hazards
Bruce Lee, a John Hopkins University professor, explained the risks of going through with the condom challenge, especially with the hazards that latex present when being put near the respiratory tract. Lee used the example of a 27-year-old female who in 2004 accidentally sucked down a condom down her throat during oral sex, which led to pneumonia and eventually the collapse of her lung.
Lee then proceeded to emphasize on how the placement of latex in the nose or mouth could obstruct breathing and cause choking. Further explanation of the risks of putting condoms in nasal holes was provided by Lee, who carried on explaining how bacteria or infection-prone organisms could be residing in latex.
A final example was given to explain what and why the condom snorting challenge could go completely wrong, the case was that of a 26-year-old woman who accidentally swallowed a condom. The object traveled to her appendix blocking it and leading to its infection, eventually causing appendicitis. Lee noted, however, that these cases were mere innocent accidents, yet with hazards being regarded as simple trends general concern is to be increased.
The Dr also noted the very uncomfortable fact that people would still be snorting a big piece of latex through their nose, in order to reach the back of their throats to pull it out. ” inhaling a condom up your nose would be very uncomfortable and potentially quite painful,” Lee wrote. “Would it really be worth all that just to get more likes and views?”
Source: The Washington Post