Advantages of the condom
• Its use is free from any health risk unless you are allergic to rubber or any lubricant used on the condom.
• It is very effective if used correctly every time you have intercourse.
• It is easy to obtain: no medical prescription is needed.
• Its use as a contraceptive is immediately reversible.
• Condoms protect against many sexually transmissible infections spread by semen or by contact of the vagina and cervix with the penis. They don’t protect against infections spread from uncovered parts of the genitals and nearby skin, such as herpes simplex, genital warts, syphilis, molluscum contageosum and pubic lice.
• Many men find that condoms give them better control of erection, enabling them to prolong intercourse if the couple wishes.
• Some men (and women) don’t like the different sensation of sex with condom.
• Putting a condom on an erect penis interrupts the progress and spontaneity of sexual arousal.
• If used often and for a long time, condoms can be rather expensive.
Condoms are especially useful in some circumstances:
• for short-term need such as while waiting to start the Pill, or if you seldom have sex, or if you have sex during the fertile period when you’re using periodic abstinence
• in emergencies such as if you miss or ran out of the Pill, or if you have sex unexpectedly (a condom in the pocket or purse of every adult would save a lot of unplanned pregnancies and requests for abortion)
• if there is any risk of sexually transmissible infection in either partner (even if you’re using other contraception).
*124/31/5*
