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At the end of her testimony, Fluke spoke movingly that her and other Catholic women’s efforts did not signify a “war against the church.” Rather it was “a struggle for the health care we need.”

I believe that Fluke’s careful, respectful and well-documented words were persuasive in the Senate’s defeat of the Blunt Amendment by a narrow, three-vote margin. The amendment would have permitted religious institutions to potentially deny women coverage on a wide range of sexual health needs.

Another young person—a male this time, I’m particularly pleased to say—also spoke up honestly this past week about the importance of contraception coverage, but perhaps of a different kind than Fluke had in mind.

Quite inadvertently, Zach Efron, a 24-year-old rising movie star, put in a plug for condoms during an appearance last week on The Today Show. Efron had recently suffered embarrassment when he dropped a condom from his pocket on the venerated red carpet at the premiere of his new film The Lorax.

He recovered his poise by the time he appeared on the Today Show the next day. Yet it was Lauer who blushed when he asked Zach to explain the incident. Without batting an eyelash, Efron assured the anchor that he “never really had a pocket-checking policy when I was going on the red carpet before, but now we’ve fully instated one.”

Then he made his pitch for condoms: “[It’s] …better to be safe than sorry,” adding it was “a great message to add to the many messages of the new film.” In that moment for me, he became a poster person for responsible condom use.

I didn’t hear Limbaugh cast any aspersions on Efron’s comments about protecting himself. Had he chosen to make a mildly derogatory remark, he could have called him “a stud,” but this is considered a compliment, not a criticism. Instead he spewed his venom on the female speaking up for contraception, rather than the male.

Why is it that female sexuality so often draws lightening while male sexuality is either ignored or even championed? Why are females “sluts” and males “studs”? One of the reasons, of course, is rampant sexism, especially in the media and politics.