Monday, March 10, 2008

Safe sex

I'm reading a romance novel and, while I applaud the author's and the publisher's efforts to encourage safe sex, suspect someone wasn't thinking clearly.

The protagonist and her new lover are taking a road trip and three times he's pulled a condom from his wallet. There's no indication whatsoever that he replaces the used condom with a fresh one each time. Carrying three--or more, I haven't finished reading the book yet--condoms in a wallet leads to problems neither considered nor explained away:

1) A wallet containing three or more condoms--presuming it also contains the usual wallet items, such as credit cards, cash, and etc.--would be quite bulky and uncomfortable for a man to carry in his pocket.

2) A condom carried in a wallet will become ineffective. The MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia recommends: "Do not carry condoms in your wallet for long periods of time. Replace them every once in a while. Friction from opening and closing your wallet, and from walking (if you carry your wallet in your pocket) can lead to tiny holes in the condom."

Sometimes, it's the little things that trip up writers.

1 comment:

Kevin R. Tipple said...

A friend of mine used to put two in the heel of each sock and then slide his tennis shoes on and walk around with them in there. Used to swear that they held up better then putting them in his wallet, kept them warmer and as such more comfortable when putting them on, and nobody was checking his wallet to see how many there were left.

Now, I saw this but if I tried it in a story no one would buy it.