Although less used than its external counterpart, the internal condom nevertheless offers effective protection against HIV and STIs. To help you adopt it, Family Planning has released a simple explanatory video.
This Saturday, September 16, 2023 marks the International Internal Condom Day. “It is THE day to promote this prevention tool which is not prohibited from using throughout the year. Far from clichés, talking about femdom again is also the way to break the myth of the single condom: the one for men”, declared the French association for the fight against HIV and viral hepatitis AIDES on his website. In fact, there exists three kinds of condoms : the best known and most sold, the external condom; the dental dam, to protect yourself during oral sex; and therefore this famous “internal condom”, formerly called “female condom”.
“By continuing to refer to them as female condoms, we believe we are reproducing the idea that the person being penetrated is female. Changing the language of prevention also means already changing this heterosexist association between femininity and penetration.”, explained the association of trans people OUTrans in 2012. But concretely, the internal condom, kesako? Made polyurethane or nitrile (so perfect for people allergic to latex), it is placed inside the vagina and can be placed several hours before sex. To help you familiarize yourself with this method of contraception, Family Planning has released a simple tutorial on YouTube: open the condom package with your fingers, unfold it. For vaginal intercourse, bend the ring at the bottom of the condom in the shape of an “8” and gently insert it into the vagina, make sure that the condom remains in place when inserting the penis, fingers or object. For anal sex, remove the ring at the bottom condom and place the method of contraception inside the anus. At the end of the report, remove it by taking it from the base, then tie a knot. Note that he “must not [pas] stack two condoms, internal and/or external, because rubbing one against the other increases the risk of breakage”, as Family Planning pointed out.
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The history of the internal condom
The internal condom is marketed since the end of the 1990s. However, this method of contraception has its origins at the end of the 19th century. Indeed, in 1891, the American brand Hygien put “Dilalérus” on the market, also called “lady’s condom”. At that time, however, this still undeveloped method of contraception proved ineffective in preventing STDs, such as syphilis. It was necessary to wait the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s to bring it out of the archives and improve it. In France, however, it was only in 1999 that it was marketed by the Terpan laboratory.
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