Those who can do. Those who can’t, watch someone else do it. Then if you watch carefully enough, you can actually do it yourself.
Before I became a sexuality educator, I knew about condoms from using them with a partner. Confession: I always let the man take care of business thinking that putting on a condom required a special skill that only men possessed, given that they possessed the actual organ to be adorned. PluUntil I got into the business of safer sex education, I never knew the finer points of condom use. But in spite of my original hesitancy and confronted by the dawning realization that I would be demonstrating my proficiency in front of groups of strangers, I took on the challenge. (Plus my salary depended on it.)
If I wanted to succeed, I knew I’d have to get it right my from an expert–my gay boss Kyle. I and a small group of young female college students were treated to the lesson while gathered around his desk, then each one of us had to demonstrate that we’d learned what he taught–on a condom model, to be clear. At first, I didn’t look forward to having an audience watching me awkwardly manage the little roll-down hat, but I pulled it off, or more correctly, put it on exactly the way it’s supposed to be done.
- Open package; no teeth, as tempting as it is to use them to rip the package open.
- Remove the condom from package
- Grasp tip (and implement the tip tip)
- Place on top
- Unroll to the bottom; careful with fingernails
- Enjoy
To be honest, it took several tries, but in the end I finally got comfortable with it. And if you haven’t tried it, you can, too.
Check out this article on a study showing that condoms don’t diminish pleasure for men.
