Condoms are vital to sexual health, as they guard your wellness against STIs as well as pregnancy. However, you might be tempted not to use condoms, as many believe that they limit the pleasure of sex – which is another significant, albeit less crucial, aspect of sexual wellbeing. Yet a new study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Sexual Medicine, has found that this is all a myth, and condoms don’t decrease sexual pleasure at all.
For the study, researchers from Indiana University, US, surveyed 1,645 men and women aged 18 to 59. Participants were asked to report on their most recent sexual event with a partner in the past year, as well as the sexual behaviour associated with this event (such as giving or receiving oral sex, vaginal intercourse, receptive or insertive anal intercourse). Of those surveyed, a disappointing 27.5% of men (237) and 22.3% of women (175) reported using a condom.
The results of the study showed that women knew less about condoms than men, as 26.6% of women, and only 11.4% of men, were unsure whether the condom was lubricated, and a similar proportion did not know which material the condom was made out of. This has important implications, as some types of lubricants (oil-based) should not be used with certain types of condoms (such as latex). However, when it came to using the condom, participants consistently rated sex as arousing and pleasurable regardless of whether they used condoms or lubricant. The study also didn’t find any significant differences in men’s ratings of the ease of maintaining their erection based on condom and lubricant use.
While most of the results of this survey appear to undermine the widespread belief that condoms can interfere with sexual pleasure, you should also be aware that the study only provided a limited snapshot of sexual behaviour based on an online questionnaire about one sexual encounter. The group was a predominantly white, heterosexual sample, and the results are only based on people who reported having penile-vaginal intercourse in their last ‘event’, and not those who reported same-sex encounters. Yet, the takeaway message remains the same: condoms are one of the best ways of protecting against STIs and unwanted pregnancy, and a perceived lack of pleasure shouldn’t prevent you from using them.
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