A new ‘consent condom’ requires four hands to open – and people are pointing out a major problem
A new condom that requires four hands to open - created to highlight the importance of consent - has received criticism online.
The Consent Pack was created by Argentinian ad agency BBDO Argentina for Tulipan, a company that sells condoms and adult sex toys.
"If it's not a yes, it's a no," and "Without consent there is no pleasure" are the taglines in the promo video, along with a viral hashtag #PlacerConsentido, translated to "permitted pleasure”.
Another tagline reads: "Consent is the most important thing in sex."
The packaging requires two people to open – with one person holding down two pressure points whilst another opens the box at the same time.
Though well-meaning, the condom has been criticised by people – women in particular – because it reduces consent to a superficial binary.
Many women are pointing out the obvious: Condoms don't actually stop rapists
And importantly - such a device doesn't encourage consent - it makes consent a discussion rather than something uncompromising
What if two people open the condom together, and then one of them changes their mind and no longer wants to have sex?
People are also pointing out that while it's an interesting idea - and the motivations behind it pure (to raise awareness about consent) - it seems to come almost entirely from the perspective of heterosexual men
Others think the condom is 'useless'
The Independent's Holly Baxter argues it does very little to actually protect women - and protects men instead
It's also being argued that the condom trivialises healthy communication around sex
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