By Paul Kisakye
She was very beautiful, the kind that makes your heart race and your mind go blank. So I gathered up the courage to tell her that I liked her. And her response? “I don’t use condoms.” My mind cleared and my heart stopped racing. She’s in my past now.
But I started wondering, why didn’t she want to use condoms? How could she even have the guts to tell me she didn’t like condoms when we hadn’t even discussed sex yet? So I set out to do some research and realised that the popularity of our dear rubber has plummeted. And here is why:
1. Girls confess that they hurt and feel unnatural to them.
2. Condoms tend to kill the magic of the moment when you have to stop to put one on. By the time it’s on, the temperature has gone down a few degrees
3. Condoms love tearing at the wrong moments, when you’ve just started enjoying the sex. Sometimes the torn part gets lost somewhere in there.
4. And lastly, they are ugly and unsightly! What do you do with one after you’ve finished using it?
I am sure there are more reasons, some too personal to be uttered. But the condom is suffering a slow painful death, and with its death, HIV is celebrating like Arsenal fans would if they got a trophy.
And though your entrepreneurship teacher taught you to take risks, unsafe sex is too big a risk to take. Safe sex is still possible. Scratch that. Enjoyable, safe sex is still possible! Here’s how:
1. Tell that guy to get responsible and get himself some condoms! If he’s too shy to ask for them at the pharmacy, do it for him. Be the heroine who goes to club with a few packets in your bag.
2. Get the right size! Most times condoms tear because the poor guy is suffocating in a size too small.
3. In order to get the right size, experiment. It will be fun. There are a number of brands, shapes, sizes and colours on the market. Try them out and settle for the one that gives you the best comfort.
[showmyads]
4. And please, I beg you, don’t go for the cheap or free condoms doled out in Mulago. Except if you’re as broke as a cockroach in the Sahara desert. Apart from cheapening your swag, those things are of poor quality. You deserve better.
5. Invest more in your sex life. Buy lube. There are a number of brands in pharmacies. Try them out till you get one that suits you. Some are even scented! Good lube will take away your anxiety of condoms being irritating.
6. Lastly, and most important, go test for HIV with your guy. It’s the height of irresponsibility not to know each other’s status!