Safe Sex - How to Use a Male Condom

Danielle Lapierre: Hi, my name is Danielle Lapierre. I am the Coordinator of Health Education at George Mason University in the Office of Alcohol, Drug and Health Education. Today we will be talking about safer sex. We are going to cover the male condom, next we will be talking about the female condom. It is really important to remember that before any sexual activity happens and before you engage in safer sex that it's happening between consensual individuals.

I have a Master's degree in Health Education from Columbia University and have been in the field for over six years. And right now we will be talking about using the male condom for safer sex. So, if you have never seen a male condom before, this is basically what it looks like. I will be using a non-lubricated condom for the sake of messiness. What you would normally purchase at a store, at a local pharmacy would be lubricated condoms, such as these. So, you would take it out of the box, what's really important is that you check the expiration date on the box. It will always be there. If it's not there don't buy it, get another box of condoms. But if you lose the box and just have a spare condom, there is always the expiration date on the back as well. Depending on which brand, it will be written in different colors, but it will always be there. So, let's check this one, we are good to go.

You want to make sure that you push the condom to the side so that you do not nip the latex. Don't use your teeth or don't use scissors because if you slit the latex you may not know and cause a hole in the condom. So, you just push it to the side, open gently like so. And this is what a condom looks like when it comes out. A male condom is used for protection against sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy and they are very effective. If you have ever heard of a condom breaking, the most likely reason for that happening is that someone didn't use it right. There wasn't enough lubrication. It was broken, it was sticky, it was brittle, it was expired.

So, you just want to make sure that you have a really good condom. You stored it at room temperature. You don't want to put in your wallet or the glove compartment because the heat can break down the latex. Lot of information to know and it's this small too, but it's very important. So, you always want to make sure you pinch the tip. The reason for that is so that there is room for the ejaculation to go. So, you place it on the tip of an erect penis. You try on a flaccid penis or a limp penis, it's not going to work because there will be too much space and the condom will probably just fall off.

So, pinch the tip and what you also need to do is make sure you put a little bit of lubrication on the inside of the condom. So, before we do that I am going to take a little of this lube and place a little bit on the inside like so. You don't want to use too much because you don't want it to be slipping inside all over the place. So, let's move this to the side and make sure you are using water based lubricant. Oil based lubricant can actually break down the latex. So, we have got a little bit of lube which is great. You can also use lube for other things as well. Not only does it reduce the chance of breakage but increases pleasure. So, pinch the tip, roll all the way down to the base like so. If you see, this condom is a little bit powdery, that's because it's non-lubricated. After you engage in sex, what you want to be sure to do is you remove it like so and it will not be erect. So you are probably removing it from a flaccid penis. So it will be a little bit more malleable than that. So, you want to make sure that when you are removing it that you have taken the penis away from any orifice of the body. So, just in case that things leak out. So, you have it. You twist the top like this, you just want to make sure nothing leaks out and you throw it away properly. You don't want to put it into the toilet because it will pop up back in the morning and if you are looking for some memories that's where you are going to find it.

So, that's that male condom. They also have polyurethane male condoms as well and basically what that is, is a thin plastic. The reason why they have those, is for those people that are allergic to latex and that can also protect against sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. And there is also lamb-skin and animal membrane condoms in addition to polyurethane condoms. Those only protect against pregnancy. The reason for that is because it is really porous and STIs can find their way through the condom.

So, that was the demonstration of the male condom, next we will be talking about the female condom and having safer sex.