Condoms. I doubt there’s anybody reading this who hasn’t used one at some point or another.

When I was a girl there wasn’t a whole lot of choice. We had plain ones, ribbed ones, a pack of rainbow colours condoms and black ones. That was about it.

But that’s all changed now. Condoms are available in all sorts of designs and colours, from luminous glow-in-the-dark condoms to ones that play Jingle Bells when you come! Yes, it’s true. I didn’t quite believe that last one either but Malc found them during a trip to Amsterdam and had to buy some. And they worked.

Well, when I say worked, what I mean is they played the tune but most of these novelty condoms don’t work if you’re using them to prevent pregnancy or STDs.

The camp seems to be divided when it comes to the effect of ribbed condoms. Personally, I think they enhance the pleasure but I have friends who say they can’t feel any difference so I guess it’s a matter of trial and error. If your partner can’t feel a difference there’s hardly any point in wasting money when plain condoms will do the job equally as well.

Flavoured condoms are a MUST if you’re using them in conjunction with oral sex. I won’t go down on anyone other than Malc without a condom on and I only the chosen few will persuade me to give them head whilst wearing a lubricated condom. Yuk!! Believe me, flavoured condoms really are the only way to go in this situation.

What’s important is that you always bear in mind that for a condom to be worth using, it must be safe and the only way to be certain of that is to use only condoms that bear either the British Standard Kite Mark, the EEC Standard Mark or the US FDA Approval Mark. And remember that condoms have an expiration date. Unless you want to risk pregnancy or the spread of nasty diseases, don’t be tempted to use any that are out of date. It just isn’t worth the risk.

Sadie xxx