Only 29 per cent of respondents to Nadia's anonymous survey said that they always used condoms during sexual intercourse. Photo / Getty Images
This article was one of our best read stories of 2022.
“Like you’re getting a massage while wearing a winter coat.”
It's an analogy not unfamiliar to a lot of men, and part of a stand-up bit comedian Ari Shaffir has become infamous for making about his experiences using condoms.
"If you wear a condom, that means you don't have to wear a condom the next nine times", he quips in another set.
This wisecrack might have been met with raucous audience laughter, but it's no joke.
Current stats show condom use is continuing to decline across genders, despite climbing STI rates.
A 2021 paper published in the journal Sexologies found that, while 15 to 24-year-olds account for roughly half of total STI cases reported annually, just 41 per cent say they regularly use condoms.
"It just feels clinical. There's something more intimate about that skin-to-skin contact," one man explained of his choice to go sans barrier protection when I posted an anonymous survey to Instagram.
Of over 650 respondents, just 29 per cent said they "always use condoms during sex".
"I find it hard to assert myself when men ask not to wear one, and to be honest, impulsivity plays into it too," another survey participant confessed.
In fact, in response to the question, "Have you ever had a partner tell you they couldn't climax with a condom on?", 65 per cent of people answered "yes".
But while the old "I can't feel anything with one on" argument (basically Shaffir's "massage in a winter coat" metaphor) did at one point have some truth to it, given the weightiness of the original latex condoms, modern manufacturing technology has well and truly revolutionised barrier protection.
For latex naysayers, alternate options like polyisoprene and AT-10 (a synthetic polyethylene resin) exist today, offering a more "naked" feeling by achieving a thinner, more sensitive experience.
And thanks to funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who put a call out for a next generation condom that would "significantly preserve or enhance pleasure" back in 2015, there are even thinner versions in the works, too.
UK researchers are currently exploring using graphene, a nanoscale material to produce the world's most lightweight, durable safe sex option, and a team of Australian scientists are working on a new material called "tough hydrogel" that could replace latex whilst offering additional sensitivity, comfort, and lubrication.
As for people worried about "ruining the moment"? The Kinsey Institute is assessing options for a pull-tab style condom that could be opened and applied more efficiently.
However, in the meantime at least, it seems condoms still have a pretty big PR issue to contend with.
A paper published in AIDS And Behaviour found the idea that only men carry condoms remains pervasive, as does the belief condoms are a "hassle" or "inconvenient" and make sex feel less spontaneous.
Perhaps most strikingly though, is the fact at the same time as STI rates are exploding, (cases reached an all-time high for the sixth consecutive year last year in the US according to CDC data, and have climbed steadily for the last five years in Australia), knowledge surrounding them – specifically the risk of contracting them – remains low.
"When I'm seeing someone regularly, I usually stop using condoms, especially if they're on the pill," a survey respondent revealed.
"I don't sleep around so I'm not really worried about STIs," another explained.
It's clear education around the role and function of barrier protection is lacking; there's an ongoing belief condoms are merely a safeguard against pregnancy, and not one of the only truly effective ways to dramatically reduce the risk of STI transmission.
There's also an undoubted issue with the pressure women feel to indulge men who insist they can't have a good time if they're wearing a protection. And this is an issue that needs addressing on a systemic level, starting with dismantling male sexual entitlement and the onus of sexual responsibility falling upon women.
Pursuing safe sex shouldn't be a gendered affair (nor a chivalrous act worthy of reward, as Shaffir satirically suggests).
Having sex with a condom is a commitment to protect your health, as well as the health of your sexual partner and the broader community. And there’s nothing controversial or comical about that.
Second-hand clothing can be a reservoir for many potentially dangerous microbes.