Why has rubber bounced back?
Updated on 21 October 2009
Women are now as likely to use condoms as the pill, official figures have found. Nina Teggarty has been finding out why.
As it happens, Durex has been celebrating its 80th anniversary, though the condom itself is centuries old.
But when the pill became widely available in the sixties, latex contraception was looking distinctly past its sell-buy date.
It is the so-called barrier form of contraception. And although that does not sound so sexy - from fruity to ribbed - condoms have had a kind of renaissance in recent years.
Last year, 24 per cent of women under 50 used condoms as their usual method of birth control, slightly more used the pill. But this year the same proportion of women used the pill and condoms.
Condoms used to be sold to men in barber's shops, but now they are being specifically marketed to appeal to women. Worries about sexually transmitted infections, STIs, are also boosting the condoms' popularity.
When the oral pill was first introduced in the sixties, women would have had fewer sexual partners than people these days, and other changes in society, like the falling rate of marriage, could also explain why there is a greater focus on protecting against STIs by using condoms.
So the increase in sexual partners, both before and after marriage, could be a reason why condoms are now as popular as the pill. But various scares about the oral contraceptive, may have hampered its image.
