Barry Soper: Should female condoms be cheaper?

A diagram of a female condom. Photo / Getty Images

You're stuck with the handle you're born with but you'd have to wonder whether the name you are born with attracts you to the occupation you end up finding yourself in.

There's an Asian athlete called Kim Yoo Suk whose not at all keen on spectators chanting when she performs, a lawyer with the unfortunate handle of Sue Yoo and the surgeon called Ted Kadiver.

Take the commissar of prisons who was on telly the other night responding to claims that ankle bracelets attached to undesirables are as easy to remove as going to the Warehouse and buying a two dollar pair of scissors, a bloke called Jeremy Lightfoot.

And then there was a woman before a subdued Parliamentary select committee arguing for cheaper female condoms with the name of Frances Bird.

It was a topic that drew polite questions from the MPs and Ms Bird was dead serious about having the Government subsidy increased, and with good reason. A female condom costs around five bucks while the male can get his hands on one for himself for around a buck.

She told her audience that female condoms are a good alternative for those who can't take the pill or have a latex allergy.

The grand motherly Barbara Stewart from New Zealand First nodded sagely. It's hard to see her raising the issue though with her fiercely private boss Luigi Peters.

And even though he seemed to show some interest in the topic, the female condom's unlikely to be of any use to the openly gay Kermit Kevin Hague. In fairness to him though he's an old campaigner for male condoms in his former incarnation working at the Aids Foundation.

And just in case we were left in any doubt Ms Bird told journalists afterwards the new variety of female condoms are so much better than they used to be. In the bad old days she said they resembled wind socks.

Now that's food for thought!