Receptive Condoms

Posted on By tyronebattis
Condoms, Safe Sex

What Are Receptive Condoms?

Receptive condoms, also known as female condoms, are a barrier method used by the receptive partner during sex. They can be used to prevent both pregnancy during male-female intercourse and the spread of STIs between partners during anal or vaginal intercourse.

How do you use a Receptive Condom?

Receptive condoms are inserted into the vagina or the anus of the receptive partner during intercourse. It is important to know how to properly use receptive condoms, because not properly using them can lead to failure, increasing the chances of unplanned pregnancy or the spread of STIs.

There are three steps to follow before opening a condom:

  1. Wash your hands.
  2. Check the expiration date.
  3. Feel for the air bubble in the package to ensure the condom isn’t compromised.

Receptive Condoms

Once this is complete the receptive condom can be inserted into the vagina or anus. Receptive condoms include a ring on the inside for vaginal use. This holds the condom in place against the cervix. To insert into the vagina, twist the ring into a figure-eight and begin feeding it into the vagina. Once inserted, there will be material left outside of the vagina, covering the vulva. To use anally, the ring should be removed. After this, the condom can be inserted into the anus using a finger or two to feed it in. Some material will remain outside the anus covering the area around it.

There are some things to consider when using a receptive condom. One is that you should “shoot for the hoop.” Make sure the penetrative object is being inserted into the opening of the condom. If it goes outside the opening of the condom, that defeats the purpose of using a barrier method in the first place. Also, if the condom is being used anally, but also vaginally, make sure it is not being pushed to far into the anus or vagina to the point at which it either needs to be fished out or fluids are able to escape the condom.

Once you’re done, the condom can be removed by twisting the material left outside the vagina or the anus so that fluids inside the condom cannot escape, after which is can be slowly pulled out and thrown away. Receptive condoms are one-time use only and should be thrown in the garbage. They will clog a toilet.

Also, remember not to double bag: the increased friction between two condoms, even between an insertive and receptive condom, can increase the chance of breakage.

How Effective are Insertive Condoms at preventing Pregnancy and STI Transmission?

A receptive condom, when used properly, is 95% effective at preventing pregnancy or fluid-spread STIs such as chlamydia or HIV. However, they will be less effective at preventing contact-spread STIs such as HPV or herpes. Usually, then they are only about 70% percent effective, but in theory they will be slightly more effective at preventing contact-spread STIs than insertive condoms because of the additional material covering the vulva and area around the anus.

What are Receptive Condoms made of?

The only brand of receptive condom available at Sex Out Loud (FC2 Female Condom) is made of polyurethane. It can be used by people who have a latex allergy, and is actually safe to use with oil-based lubricants.

Latex Golves

Posted on By tyronebattis
Condoms, Sex

What Are Latex Gloves?

Well, latex gloves are exactly what they sound like: they’re much like the ones you would find at the doctor or dentist’s office.

How do you use Latex Gloves?

Latex gloves can be used for a variety of things. They can be used for any form of manual sex, including fingering or fisting. They’re especially good if one partner has a cut or open sore on their hands or fingers, but would like to finger or fist without exchanging bodily fluids. In addition to that they can be used during kink play that may include exposure to bodily fluids that can transmit STIs. Finally, they can be used as a “do-it-yourself” sex dam. Simply cut the fingers off (not the thumb) and cut it along the side and you get a sheet of latex similar to a normal sex dam. They thumb will even create a little pouch that can be used to integrate food into your play; you can make a game of eating any sort of food (such as honey or chocolate sauce) out of the pouch.

Latex Golves

How Effective are Latex Gloves at Preventing STI Transmission?

A latex glove will be 98% effective at preventing fluid-spread STIs and contact-spread STIs.

What are Latex Gloves made of?

The gloves provided by Sex Out Loud are all latex, however non-latex gloves are available in materials such as nitrile, vinyl, and neoprene.

Condoms Use Errors

Posted on By tyronebattis
Condoms, Safe Sex

The vast majority of available literature on condom failures has focused on inconsistent condom use, ignoring the phenomenon of incorrect condom use.  Researchers tend to treat consistent condom users as consistently correct condom users, which is not necessarily the case.  Bleaker yet, people with a history of condom failure tend to become distrustful of condom efficacy, misattributing their own incorrect use of the product to the company that made the condom and deterring future use.

However, the data is quite consistent that the vast majority of condom failures are due to human error and not the manufacturing of the condom itself.  When used consistently and correctly, male latex condoms are at least 98% effective in preventing the transmission of fluid-spread sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.  Below is a list of the most common condom use errors.

  • Neglecting to check for an air bubble: 83% of the time
  • Neglecting to check the expiration date on the packaging: 71% of the time
  • Applying the condom after commencement of intercourse: 25-50% of the time
  • Putting the condom on the wrong way: 10%-30% of the time
  • Applying an inadequate amount or no lubrication: 25%  of the time
  • Not pinching the tip: 42-75% of the time
  • Not leaving excess space in the tip of the condom:  24-46% of the time
  • Not rolling the condom all the way down to the base of the shaft: 15% of the time
  • Removing the condom before finishing intercourse: 15% time
  • Not holding on the base of the condom when withdrawing to prevent slippage or spillage: 27-31% of the time
  • Other nuanced errors included unrolling the condom all the way before applying to the penis and re-using the condom: 7% of the time

[Note: “Percent of the time” refers to the collective sample pool of all condom uses by all participants in the included studies, not condom mistakes per participant.]

Most studies found that increased experience with using condoms did not improve competency.  If a person learns to apply condoms incorrectly, they are not likely to unlearn their method.  Others found that self-reported lack of information was a contributing factor to incorrect condom use.  The CDC reported that 37% of health teachers in the United States are “inadequate” in teaching proper condom application and use.  Misinformation and rumors are another source.   A review of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health found that a third of youth believe that they should not leave space in the tip of the condom and Vaseline is a recommended lubrication; one-fifth incorrectly believe that lambskin condoms are more effective in preventing the transmission of HIV than latex condoms.

One major gap in the literature is the minimal acknowledgement of the social and emotional factors of incorrect condom use.  “Heat of the moment” syndrome may take precedent over lack of education or information.  The literature also ignores that demonstrated condom ability in the laboratory—under lights, cameras, and supervision—may present differently than in the bedroom.

Please contact sexoutloud@gmail.com if you are interested in the bibliography for this piece.