CYPRESS : Prop Makes a Point of AIDS Prevention

When Cypress College student Joe Gaudio showed up at school on Thursday, he didn’t expect to be sitting in front of more than 200 students with a condom pulled over his head.

But that’s exactly what happened to the 19-year-old freshman when he came to watch Suzi Landolphi’s zany, energetic and no-holds-barred presentation on safe sex and AIDS.

“It was embarrassing, but I knew it was all in the spirit of good fun,” Gaudio said. “If it helped anyone, then I’m glad. I think people are often afraid to talk about sex, and it’s something that needs to be talked about.”

Landolphi, 40, isn’t afraid to talk about sex, as she proved repeatedly while working the crowd at Cypress College much like Joan Rivers would work a Las Vegas showroom.

“Girls, the next time a guy says he’d use a condom but they’re too small, tell him about Joe’s head,” Landolphi said to the audience of mostly 18- to 22-year-olds.

Snappy one-liners, double-entendres and blunt talk about sex are the trademark of Landolphi’s frenetic, one-woman show called “Hot, Sexy and Safer” which she uses as a vehicle to get college students across the country to think about safe sex and the realities of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

“You can’t get AIDS through something like spit,” she said as she stomped across the stage in her bright orange high-top sneakers. “Which is a good thing because I spit a lot when I talk. You can’t get it from tears or sweat, sharp knives, forks, plates or toilets.”

But she urged students to use condoms, to know about a partner before sleeping with him or her and to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

“You need to keep your lines of defense strong,” she said.

Landolphi also called for compassion toward those afflicted with the virus and for tolerance of different sexual orientations.

“Eventually, every one of us will know or love someone who is HIV-positive,” she said. “We don’t have to judge; we need to understand better.”

Landolphi will make about 200 appearances this year at college campuses throughout the United States. A producer of television commercials, she volunteered for the AIDS ACTION Committee in Boston six years ago. Through that involvement, she made public service announcements and eventually began giving safe sex lectures to high school students. She began touring college campuses two years ago.

“My real hope is that this will be the generation that will start something better than a sexual revolution,” Landolphi said. “I hope this will be the generation that starts a sexual evolution.” The tone of Landolphi’s show came as a shock to some, but most agreed that her approach had made them think.

“I was a bit shocked by the graphic manner, but it was language that the students can understand. I think she really got through to a lot of people,” said Garret Drake, student body president.

Gail Taylor, director of student and campus activities, agreed. “I’ve been at Cypress College for 13 years, and this is the first major event dealing with safe sex and AIDS,” she said. “These are topics a lot of people are uncomfortable about but Suzi makes it comfortable.”