Graphene condoms: super tough and thin, it is that enough in order to make individuals have safer intercourse?

Senior Research Fellow , Glasgow Caledonian University

Doctoral Researcher, Class of Health Insurance And Lifetime Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University

Disclosure statement

Karen Lorimer gets give money from the principle Scientist Office, Scottish Government.

Jen MacDonald is funded by way of a Glasgow Caledonian University PhD stipend.

Glasgow Caledonian University provides financing as a founding partner regarding the discussion British.

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The proposition of an ultra-thin condom produced from graphene and latex brings design of this contraceptive to the century that is 21st. We now have yet to see a model, however the designers during the University of Manchester stated the thinnest and condom that is strongest ever made would enhance feeling while having sex, that they wish will encourage more condom usage.

Graphene is a type of carbon which has been touted a “miracle material”, could be one-atom dense the strongest ever calculated and an alternative for silicone. James Hone, an engineering teacher from Columbia University, stated it abthereforelutely was so strong that “it would just simply take an elephant, balanced for a pencil, to split by way of a sheet of graphene the depth of Saran Wrap cling film”|film” that is cling.

The program at Manchester would be to combine graphene with latex, presently the material that is main in making condoms, in order to make their particular. But will enhancing sensation really cause individuals to utilize condoms more?

Locating the fit that is right

They’re still unpopular for a variety of reasons despite condoms being one of the best ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia and HIV.

There is a complete large amount of research completed into focusing on how usually condoms are increasingly being utilized, just just exactly what issues are connected with with them and people’s attitudes towards them. A myriad of social and emotional factors influence how much we utilize condoms, such as for instance lack of pleasure, the odor (commonly from latex) and arguments they cause some guys to get rid of their erection.

Individuals have a tendency to think about the observed advantages and disadvantages of condoms and safer sex. There is certainly a spectrum of condom usage from individuals staying away from them at all, to with them inconsistently or trying to utilize them and failing. And an increasing human body of scientific studies are telling us more about the mistakes and issues folks have when utilizing condoms – including fit, breakages and spillages.

Cops and rubbers

There were numerous tries to market condom use around the world. In Thailand as an example, efforts had been made through the entire 1980s to boost condom used to reduce the country’s high birth prices and also as element of an HIV prevention programme within the 1990s. The us government caused brothel owners to enforce condom usage, there is an advertising campaign and police distributed condoms through something called the “cops and rubbers initiative that is.

Thailand’s ‘Mr Condom’ at TEDx.

Despite some success, dilemmas stay with condom usage nevertheless lower in rural areas specially. This points to deficiencies in understanding and option of condoms being a good cause for low use. But even yet in the western where condoms are accessible and education that is sexual raise understanding, high prices of STIs persist. Therefore will it be actually constantly about a lack of accessibility?

Condoms for the unclean?

Overview of 268 studies that are qualitative The Lancet discovered seven key themes reported by teenagers about unprotected sex, including they were stigmatising or suggested deficiencies in trust. Another was at the perception of prospective partners that are sexual “clean” or “unclean” – therefore if somebody ended up being considered the previous it had been okay never to work with a condom. Other social objectives, including the anxiety about appearing “easy” or otherwise not additionally arrived into play.

Offered social reasons influence intimate behaviour, brand new technology like the graphene condom (and another idea checking out “shape memory”) won’t fundamentally improve attitudes toward utilizing condoms. It’s clear there’s nevertheless some approach to take right right here.

But pleasure that is emphasising be a brand new narrative that encourages some to consider the pros and cons a little differently. For the part that is most, tries to encourage young adults to make use of condoms employ scare strategies that emphasise the effects of maybe not making use of them. However some of y our research has unearthed that teenage boys really reject these fear narratives and would like a tone that is different wellness communications. Therefore a condom that emphasises “enhanced pleasure” could possibly be effective of these teams. We have been also looking at the attitudes of older grownups towards condom usage, while they stay indian dating sites intimately active.

The social and social forces at play that influence just how teenagers operate within the bed room means information that is merely providing condoms is not adequate to result in alterations in sexual behavior. While systematic improvements in intimate health such as for example graphene condoms might be important, getting visitors to use them into the first place calls for a much deeper comprehension of the social and social forces at your workplace.