A funny think happened on the way to picking up a female condom to review.
I couldn’t find any.
Truth be told, I had no idea that September 16 was World Female Condom Day. But after reading about the initiative on Twitter and Facebook, I thought “hey, self, you’ve never even tried a female condom…and a Sex Stuff review is due on September 17…”
I thanked my self for the idea and after work set out to find a female condom to bring home and try.
Now, I know two places in Toronto, Good For Her and Come As You Are where I am fairly certain I could have picked one up—and gotten good advice about which brands are best. Unfortunately, I live in a different direction than both of those fine establishments and couldn’t make it to either because of time constraints.
So instead I rode down to downtown Toronto and hit up two shops. One I was sure would have one. The other, given that it has ‘condom’ in its name seemed a good bet as well.
Nope, thwarted at both. I am actually really shocked about the first place.
I was out of time to look in the city, and I thought my prospects were pretty grim. I met my lady friend, exercised the demon dog and we headed out on our trip back to the suburbs. There my only hopes were a name brand sex shop and our leading drug store.
No female condoms at either. How very disappointing. I don’t actually use condoms anymore (long-term, monogamous), but I was looking forward to trying one. I think I’d quite like them.
But no, the selection of stores I went to—a sampling that encompasses most of the types of shops where you could reasonably expect to find a female condom—do not carry these items.
I wonder why that is. No customer demand? No customer interest? Reticence on the part of shop owners/product buyers to stock a “new” item? Lack of knowledge of female condoms?
The answer could be any of the above, plus possible others. But female condoms are a great method of safer sex and more and more people are trying them out. Have we not reached a watershed of interest yet? Are penis-involved condoms so prevalent? Is safer sex assumed to be the penis-bearer’s responsibility?
I am pretty damn shocked I couldn’t find a female condom and surprised that people who wish to use these items have to either buy online or visit specific shops.
So, I encourage you to give female condoms a try…just call ahead before you actually go out to buy them!
