"Condoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus." - Bob Rubin, Public Servant
Condoms are advertised on TV, given away at health centers, and placed over some poor student's skull (I was going to say "head" but...) during Freshman Orientation. There are countless jokes about them and they're sold in most convenience stores, but are they really convenient, and can they be taken seriously?
The first step is acquiring them, which is not difficult since your RA usually has an entire bag of condoms.
The flavored ones are specifically for oral sex and are not used often enough, because oral sex is still a way to pass STDs, including HIV.
If you ignore the flavored condoms, there are only a million other choices. Everyone has a brand, and personally, I feel that the Durex condoms provided by the college's Health Center do the trick.
If these aren't good enough for you, you can order free condoms online, but you'll need to place an order about six months in advance of having sex.
Otherwise, it's always better to go to an Eckerd or a Rite Aid-type store. It's awkward and embarrassing to have to ask the guy at Wawa or Royal Farms to get one for you from a locked plastic case. Then you look at it and it's expired, covered in dust, and big enough for your entire arm.
Avoid the panicked embarrassment and take some time in the private corner of Rite Aid to ask yourself if you care "for her pleasure," "ribbed," or your "extended" sexual encounter.
You might as well spend the $13 bucks on a big box so that the clerk will think you have a lot of sex and you won't run out at the wrong moment.
Speaking of "The moment," it's a shame I've never seen a romantic movie where Fabio slyly unwraps the condom with his teeth (Editor's Note: you should not tear open a condom wrapper with your teeth; doing so can cause the condom to tear. Using your mouth to put it on, however, is perfectly acceptable.)
Even some adult film companies require their actors to wear one, and somehow you never see it come on or off. A few embarrassing moments of fiddling with the condom, however, will save you 18 years of child support or a lifetime with an STD.
People enjoy having sex, and condoms allow you to do so without huge physical consequences (98% of the time), but who's responsible for having them?
My opinion is that any college dorm room with the potential for housing sexual activity needs a condom drawer. They're free and certainly more convenient than running naked through the dorm screaming for a rubber.
Some say it's completely the guy's responsibility as it goes on him; likewise girls should be in charge of taking a pill everyday (doubling up never hurt anybody, and nothing's 100%).
Condoms are like cell phones - it's always better to have it with you and not use it than need it when it's not available. A guy with a condom (unless he's in middle school) is simply being optimistic and responsible. A girl with a condom is allowing for the possibility but is not a slut.
So do the right thing and keep one in a drawer next to the bed. Anything is better than spending the next month waiting for a period or checking yourself out at the health clinic (still not a bad idea).
And if a thin layer of latex is enough to deter you from having sex, then you shouldn't be going through with it anyway.
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