.ltA first, but is it a winner?

The Times,
24 April 1988

IT IS unfortunate, perhaps, that the new contraceptive shown to the press this week is colloquially described as the "first female condom".  Instantly, it begs comparison with its male counterpart, and while that is no thing of beauty, it is at least small and its shape is familiar.  Against it, the female version, Femshield, seems an enormous and alien entity.
  
It is a loose-fitting polyurethane sheath with a thin rim of plastic at the open end and a thicker one inside the top.  The thick rim enables it to be inserted in a similar way to the diaphragm, but without the worry of having to ensure covering the cervix in order to be effective.  The outer rim covers the vulva completely and thus offers, it is hoped, full protection against all sexually transmitted diseases, including Aids.
  
Dr Fay Hutchinson, medical adviser to Brook Advisory Centres, has been showing a sample to the young women who attend for contraceptive services and who are all aged under 23.  "They gasp in astonishment and say it looks like a vacuum cleaner bag," she said.  Others in family planning circles who have seen it suggest that it is similar, to a sock of a soft food bag.  There could be quite a big PR job to do on Femshield.
  
But, as Dr Hutchinson points out, most people are not highly turned on by their very first sight of the male condom.  And the diaphragm is also an object of awe to the uninitiated.  Familiarity may in the long run breed content!
  
A Family Planning Association spokeswoman said: "I thought it was ugly when I first saw it.  But it is actually quite sensuous - when you touch it there is no sticky feel to it."
  
Now undergoing trials for its efficacy as a contraceptive, Femshield appears to have many indisputably desirable points in its favour.  It allows a woman total control and can be inserted several hours before sex, so it doesn't bar spontaneity.  It is strong and unlikely to rip.  It has no side-effects and it should give greater protection against sexually transmitted diseases than any other available contraceptive.  The manufacturer, Medicor, hopes it will be on sale by the end of the year.
  
It would be a shame if women were put off entirely by its less than erotic image.  It does even have some erotic pluses, it appears.  Some women in early trials at the Margaret Pyke (family planning research) Centre in London claimed the outer rim provides external stimulation during sex and it is interesting to note that 80% of the women volunteers, as against 16% of the males, preferred it to the ordinary condom.  Women also preferred it to the diaphragm.
  
Those who took part in the trials were highly motivated, however; they were already contraception users and were game enough to volunteer.  The researchers themselves feel it is far too early to know how successful the new method will be.  All contraceptive methods have both perceived advantages and disadvantages and no single type ever suits everyone.
  
Whether Femshield will be widely tried, however, and whether its potential users will include the young and most at risk, remains to be seen, especially if they have experience of neither the condom nor the diaphragm to compare it with.  It is young women who often fear appearing "prepared" for sex by taking precautions and who are most easily embarrassed by the paraphernalia of barrier contraception.
  
Dr Hutchinson said: "I welcome any new addition to contraceptive choice, but I think a woman would need to be fairly confident sexually and to have come to terms with her need to protect herself before she would use this one.  I would have liked to have been allowed to run a trial at Brook Advisory Centres, as our population is young and sexually inexperienced.  It would be a realistic test."
  
It will also be interesting to see whether women will feel easier about walking into a chemist's shop and buying something called Femshield rather than a male condom.  In fact, reticence is unlikely to be a problem as a third of condom sales are already to women.  More likely is that men will feel uncomfortable buying Femshield or that the idea wouldn't even enter their heads, even if it becomes the form of contraception they and their partners agree together to use.
  
The Family Planning Association has been campaigning for years to make men share responsibility for contraception.  It would be a shame if a female condom was seen as an excuse for them to leave all that for women to take care of again.  

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.llThe Body: Contraception
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