Safe sex? Sell it “as good as bareback”
Bareback sex is a serious matter when it comes to HIV prevention. It is an issue difficult to address and which often triggers heated debates. Beyond the differences in opinions surrounding bareback sex, it is obvious that sex with and without condom is not the same and bareback practitioners often emphasise the difference in sensation between protected sex and bareback sex. Real or not, this difference made some people thinking and got them to understand that not everybody is prepared to sacrifice safety to pleasure, and that if it was possible to make safe sex with a condom feel as good as bareback sex, there would be an opportunity to make money (and prevent HIV transmission). And they did find a way to do just that.
Different approaches have been identified by rubber maker and sellers to sell products that supposedly make safe sex feel nearly like unprotected sex. Mates markets SKYN, a condom made from Sensoprene, “which has a completely different material structure to normal latex, making it softer and much more flexible, all with the strength of a latex condom – giving you the sensation of Skyn on skin. In short, it feels like the closest thing to wearing nothing™.”
Another approach consists in reducing the thickness of the condom. Crown markets a 47 microns (0.047 millimetres) thick condom (condoms are on average 50-70 microns thick) Skin Less Skin condom and even adds a porn actor credential to its product which comes with a clever ad campaign.
More recently, the Japanese Sagami came up with the world thinnest condom with a mere 20 microns thickness (0.02 mm). Most remarkably, it was recently advertised to an MSM audience, with approval from the health authority… in Thailand! The campaign poster is quite bold and I doubt it will be broadly visible, but this is quite astonishing and the japanese advert campaign based on a “love theme” clearly departs from more traditionnal ads.
The cost of these products may be an obstacle to their broad use but their growing popularity is a recognised asset. What is also remarkable is that once more, it is the private sector which has spotted a niche and an opportunity in what is a serious issue.
Maybe the HIV prevention field should partner with the private sector in order to deliver more efficient prevention interventions?
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Gosh, I am amazed nobody has ever thought of doing this… oh, no, wait, everyone has. I like the Sagami ads, but I'd point out they refer to love and care, rather than quality of the sexual experience.
Not sure I follow you regarding people thinking of doing this as I don't recall a campaign promoting "comdomised bareback" but I may be missing something here… For sure condoms have been promoted as being fun and not detrimental to the sexual experience but not as far as being "nearly as good as bareback" as an appealing factor. Please let me know!
The Sagami video is about love and care, the Sagami ad in Thai is about sexual experience, roughly translating as "the thinnest, the more fun" with a pun.
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