The Curious Case of the Condom:How the Secular Matters in the Netherlands

This article argues that the material approach to religion can productively be extended to the domain of the secular, so as to grasp its material dimension. It investigates the Dutch field of sexual health to examine the ways in which the male condom was employed to underscore an image of religion as an obstacle to open conversations about sexual matters. It analyzes how the condom was deployed during sex education classes to evoke discussions about sexuality, but also to demonstrate the organizations’ alleged comfortability with discussing these objects. I argue that, in my fieldwork, the con... Mehr ...