Female condom sensitisation continues, but myth abounds

The third edition of the Female Condom Day was celebrated September 16, 2014.

“The appearance of the female condom is awful! Too big and difficult to use”.

These are reactions of eight out of 10 women whose opinions were sampled in Yaounde, yesterday September 16, 2014 on the use of the female condom as Cameroon joined the international community to commemorate the third edition of the Global Female Condom Day on the theme, “Dance for Demand”.

Yesterday at the Essos Market in Yaounde, a campaign was organised which aimed at educating, informing and promoting the knowledge, accessibility and use of female condoms in Cameroon and beyond.

During the event, a choreographed dance for 10 minutes dubbed “Dance for demand”, took place to attract attention around the female condom. But as the population, particularly women witnessed the display and much talk on the female condom, many pondered on the characteristics and appearance of the condom and if they will ever use it.

Although, it is said that the female condom is one of the major tools currently available and designed to offer woman-initiated protection against STIs, HIV and unplanned pregnancy, Martine P, a lady in Yaounde, still does not picture how the female condom can be effectively inserted into a woman’s genitals and does not remain in the vagina after use.

Another lady experienced worries over the fact that the female condom is quite big and will not render love-making pleasurable given that one will have to be attentive in ensuring that it is intact rather than enjoying the pleasure in the sexual intercourse.

While some men laughed at the appearance of female condom, experts say the second generation female condom in use at the moment does not make noise and that it can be used in all positions during sexual intercourse, provided it is well inserted and that the external ring at the top of the condom stays out of the vagina.

Regarding the too long and too large size characteristics of the female condom, experts say the condom has the same length as the male condom but larger to adhere to the vaginal walls.