Nothing ruins the mood when all of a sudden you feel that awkward and unusual ‘pop’ sensation during sex. You both feel it, and you both know what happened. You look at each other and pause.
He hopes you won’t say it. You almost kind of don’t and want to keep doing what you’re doing, but you also don’t want a child so you finally ask. “Did the condom break?”
Unless you are doing something wrong, this doesn’t typically happen with regular condoms. Maybe once and a while there isn’t enough lube or you get a bum condom that malfunctions.
Sometimes though, I think it’s the type of condom. Thin condoms have the reputation for breaking more easily than normal condoms. I’m not saying you need an extra thick condom for sex to be completely safe. The odds of it failing are usually due to human error anyway. I just like the “average” ones the best because while thin absolutely feels better for both parties, you can’t really move around or be more wild with them.
The amount of times I’ve had thin condoms break is unsettling. It destroys the atmosphere, and when it’s the last condom, it’s straight up frustrating.
The only problem with explaining this to a partner is the statistics. Normal and thin condoms break at the same rate. It’s all due to human error. Not putting it on correctly, not enough lube or even the wrong size could all cause a condom to break.
We’ve all seen videos or pictures of people testing how far a condom can stretch. I’ve seen a girl roll a condom from her foot all the way up to her knee. I’ve made condom water balloons so huge that it took two people to carry.
A lot of girls won’t believe a guy when he says a condom won’t fit, but that might actually be the case because it isn’t tensile strength you are worried about — it’s the friction. That’s what will break a too-tight condom. And a condom too loose will slip right off. There are different sizes, so make sure you and your partner have the right equipment.
Still, there’s something unsettling about thin condoms, like when someone gives you skim milk instead of whole milk. It’s still milk, but it’s just enough of a difference to make you reconsider.
Thin condoms just feel restricting. It makes it less likely to try new positions, or go harder or be a bit more creative.
Plus, thin condoms don’t have anything fun on them. No ribs or twist or anything on them for female pleasure. There’s always hot and cold lube, but let’s be honest — that just makes you tingly for a bit and then itches for the next hour.
The main importance about condoms is — to completely sound like a broken record — wear one every time. It isn’t even always about unwanted pregnancies, either. Unless the other person is your partner, you don’t know where their junk has been or what STD they might have. They might not even know what they have.
Symptoms don’t always show up right away and finding out that one kid you slept with last week gave you an infection is both demoralizing and gross. They could be spreading it even more as well. Nobody wants to call back a one-night stand with that news, so play it safe.
Sure, condom thickness and style is absolutely all a personal preference. But I think it’s also fair to take into consideration the safety of one and also how it would affect your partner. It’s about both of you having a good time, not one banging away and the other anxiously thinking about the condom breaking the whole time.
Email Amanda Little at amanda.little@cardinalpointsonline.com.
