Do you trust condoms?

[TexasSky]

Are broken condoms a regular occurrence? I've been with my wife for seven years. In those seven years, we've had sex hundreds of times, 99% of those times with a condom. There has not been a single broken or fallen-off condom in all of our experience.

Well, yes and no.

There really is a pretty high failure for all condoms compared to other birh control methods, but it is usually caused by improper use.

You must be one of those couples who use them correctly.

 

[TexasSky]

A perfect example of why more than one type of birth control should be used. If one fails there will be another to prevent problems.

Vene,

The other won't prevent AIDS though.
SO people need to choose their partners carefully.

 

[TexasSky]

This discussion would also include the female condom, right?

The female condom, as an AIDS protection, fails 26% of the time.

Remember my 52 weeks example? With a man's latex condom the chances of failure were 1 time out of 52.
With the woman's condom, the changes of failure are 14 out of 52. Or, a tiny bit over 1 chance of failure every four times you have sex.

 

[Vene]

Vene,

The other won't prevent AIDS though.
SO people need to choose their partners carefully.

True, I'm talking about preventing pregnancy in this case. You know, the other major use for condoms.

The female condom, as an AIDS protection, fails 26% of the time.

Remember my 52 weeks example? With a man's latex condom the chances of failure were 1 time out of 52.
With the woman's condom, the changes of failure are 14 out of 52. Or, a tiny bit over 1 chance of failure every four times you have sex.

That is why both are used. That way if/when one fails you have a failsafe.

 

[Skaloop]

Well, yes and no.

There really is a pretty high failure for all condoms compared to other birh control methods, but it is usually caused by improper use.

You must be one of those couples who use them correctly.

Well, we are smart about it. We're not pulling them out of the packs with our teeth and slapping them on with copious amounts of oil-based lube.

Plus, from what I've heard, sex-ed for us in Canada is a bit more throrough in the ed part, so we had full instruction on how to use one properly. And we're also aware that failure is a possibility, even if just from a manufacturing defect. But being monogamous and disease-free, we don't have much to worry about. Even pregnancy, while not the best in terms of timing right now, would not be unwelcome.

 

[tcampen]

HIV is not something that's out there among the entire population, as if anyone can reasonably expect to get it antime unprotected sex happens. Certain populations have a very high rate of the virus, while others extremely low. Furthermore, the type of sex makes a difference in the transmittal rate. We've all heard the story of the yound woman who had the one and only one-night-stand of her life, was too drunk to think about protection, and got AIDS. But this is a painfully obscure example. Transmission from female to male from ordinary sex, and where there is no open wounds on the man's genitals, is not automatic. Switching the gender roles increasing the risk. Engaging in certain "other" sexual acts greatly increases the risks. Having a depressed immune system further increases the risk, but still does not guarantee transmission of the virus.

The point is, there are a great many additional factors to consider before asking the extreme question of "would you trust your life to a condom?" If you greatly reduce the other risk factors, I'd wager sex with a properly used condom produces about as much risk as riding a motorcycle.

 

[WatersMoon110]

That is why both are used. That way if/when one fails you have a failsafe.

Both male and female condoms? Or both condoms and a form of birth control?

Because one should never use both a male and a female condom! The friction will likely cause both to break.

 

[Vene]

Both male and female condoms? Or both condoms and a form of birth control?

Because one should never use both a male and a female condom! The friction will likely cause both to break.

Ah, I didn't even think of that. Thank you.

 

[lucyclaire]

I am an only child thanks to condoms so they do work if they are used correctly. This why teenagers need sex education, even if they have been raised on high sexual morality, so they know how to do it right and they understand the risks..
I remember a prostitute being interviewed on TV, years ago and she said they all insist on clients using two condoms, to protect them.

 

[gwenmead]

I voted yes, in that I trust a correctly-used condom to protect me from disease and unwanted pregnancy better than no birth control at all.

More than that, I trust myself to use condoms correctly, and have a backup plan in place should one fail.

 

[JadeTigress]

Are broken condoms a regular occurrence? I've been with my wife for seven years. In those seven years, we've had sex hundreds of times, 99% of those times with a condom. There has not been a single broken or fallen-off condom in all of our experience.

I know it's a very slim chance that it would break, but just the fact that it can break is enough to make me paranoid and not use them. I'll stick with saving up money to get a copper IUD, because I hate hormones, too. But that's a whole other discussion.

 

[SaintInChicago]

A condom has never lied to me.

 

[TexasSky]

A condom has never lied to me.

My favorite post in the thread.

 

[Allister]

I've been with my girlfriend for almost 5 years now and not once has a condom broke; I trust them.

 

[LoveAlways]

Condoms get a bum rap. You just need to be realistic about them. If the user failure rate bothers you, use something else instead. If you can use them correctly, they are 99% effective. I would trust them in a monogamous relationship where both people have been tested.

 

[IzzyPop]

I am an only child thanks to condoms so they do work if they are used correctly. This why teenagers need sex education, even if they have been raised on high sexual morality, so they know how to do it right and they understand the risks..
I remember a prostitute being interviewed on TV, years ago and she said they all insist on clients using two condoms, to protect them.

Ahhhh...but 'double-bagging' increases the chance of breaking. See the above post on friction...

 

[UncleHermit]

Would you make sex using condoms with somebody you knew beforehand he/she had aids?

It would depend on what kind of feelings I have for this person. I don't think I can answer the question with a simple yes/no.

 

[IzzyPop]

The question was would you trust your life to a condom.

Several years back, when the AIDS epidemic first really came to world attention, a doctor I knew was in my office as some comment about safe-sex came up. I asked his medical opinion.

This would have been around 20 years ago, right? Even back then some of this stuff was known to be incorrect. Much more so now that we known more ab out how the virus works. But don't worry, I'll show ya'

He told me he would never put the life of anyone he cared about on a condom and told me that AIDS is a hearty virus, much stronger in its own ability to survive than most STD's are. That is why the concern over shared needles is so high. You cannot simply sterialize or alcohol-away AIDS.

Completely false. The HIV virus is actually a pretty weak virus. It cannot survive outside the host for any length of time. No aerosol transmission here. And you can sterilize it away. Autoclaves, bleach, alcohol, UV light, or any other of a myriad sterilization methods work just fine on HIV. No special industrial grade bug zappers needed for this one.

It is also easier to get through sexual contact with infected people than other STD's are because your body's immune system often does pretty good at some of the other STD's, but it can't fight AIDS.

Once again, not true. HPV is much easier to contract than HIV. And the immune system does fight and destroy the HIV virus. This is why the HIV test looks for the HIV antibodies and not the virus itself. The virus simply overwhelms and then commandeers the auto-immune system.

It is more dangerous than other STD's. There are no cures, and it is deadly. Besides those two things, it attacks your immune system so that other deadly diseases have a much greater chance of attacking you as well.

Half true. Yes, there are no cures (yet). The only way HIV is lethal is by another disease getting you. HIV weakens the immune system to allow other opportunistic pathogens a shot at taking you down. HIV, in and of itself, cannot kill you.

After spelling these things out, this doctor said, "Now, consider the condom's reliability rate. A properly used condom is a pretty rare thing. People put it on too late, after they've played around awhile and some seminal fluid has been exposed to body parts, thinking it is okay because they have not actually penetrated. They put it on incorrectly and it comes off or it bursts. They decide "just this once" not to use it. They don't use lubricants, and it tears. They use the wrong lubricants and it deteriorates. They move away from their partner without securing it, and lose it inside the partner.

Partially true. Unless the seminal fluid were going directly into and open sore, there would be no cause for alarm. The stuff about condoms is completely true.

The reliability rates are based on calcuations of how many people reported using them who did get pregnant, and how many people reported using them who did not get pregnant.

Pregnancy cannot happen every time a woman has sex unless she really has bad timing. You only have a few days out of every month when a woman is able to conceive. So when we talk about 10% failure rates, we are not saying that only 10% of the time a condom was used it allowed seminal fluid through. We are saying that it only failed 10% of the time when a woman was ovulating. It may have failed 15 times when she wasn't ovulating, but those 15 times do not appear in the statistics because no one reports those. There aren't any tests or surveys saying, "How often did you notice that it broke, or slipped, or leaked when you weren't ovulating?"

On top of that, you have to be careful when you buy one. Is it "old"? If so, odds of it failing are greater. Is it one of those that advertises "lambs skin"? Don't get it. That will let through the HIV virus, even though it will not let through sperm.

And since then they have included STDs into the mix and used various mechanical tests to see where the breaking point is.

According to body.com "Several studies clearly show that condom breakage rates in this country are less than 2%."

Okay, think about that. Seems low doesn't it.
If you have sex once a week in a year, you've had it 52 times. That means that statistically, at least once that year your condom probably broke.

Even if it wasn't at a time conception was a problem, it was a time AIDS could have been.

All of that said - - if you are going to have sex outside of marriage PLEASE use one. Because there were 51 times that year it probably saved your life.

I almost let this one slide, but I couldn't. The information provided errors on the side of caution and I can respect that, but I think people should be given correct information so that they can make the best decisions. Back in the day (Late '80s and early '90s) I volunteered for a group that dealt with HIV/AIDS. It was company line to tell people not to brush their teeth prior to going out on a date because the micro-tears in the gums that a toothbrush leaves could leave you open to infection. I raised objections to this due to the fact that you would have to be drinking either quarts of blood or gallons of saliva to get enough of the virus into your system through these micro-tears. I was told that while that was factually correct, we would continue teaching it because there still existed the chance you could contract the virus that way, plus it got people thinking 'outside the box' of transmission vectors and would help them remain safer. It was that type of scare tactic that I had (and still have) problems with and led to me spending my volunteer time elsewhere.

 

[trunks2k]

I remember a prostitute being interviewed on TV, years ago and she said they all insist on clients using two condoms, to protect them.

Which is idiocy. Doing that puts you at much higher risk. Two condoms increases friction which makes the condoms more likely to break.

 

[Verv]

I am not married and I do not believe in premarital sex, but when I am married I do not object to the use of condoms on any grounds like that. Rather, I merely object to the act of premarital sex. I imagine that when I am married a form a birth control will be used.