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Health

12th Apr 2019

‘Consent condom’ requiring four hands to open criticised for missing the mark

Jade Hayden

consent condom

“Good thing all rapists buy consent condoms.”

A condom that requires four hands to open has been criticised for entirely missing the mark.

The ‘consent condom’, created by Argentinian company Tulipán, comes in a box that requires one pair of hands to hold it from the bottom and a second pair to remove the lid from the top.

The sex toy retailer launched the limited-run product to emphasise the importance of sexual consent discussion in Argentina, offering the condoms at events to promote their message.

“Why this box can only be opened in two?” they wrote on Twitter. “Because this is how consent works in relationships. Everything has to be two.”

“If they don’t say yes, it means no,” the tagline reads. “Consent is the most important thing in sex.”

The condom, however, has been criticised on social media for missing the mark and failing to understand what consents means or requires.

Although the condom needs four hands to open, consent does not begin and end when a person puts on a condom.

Nor does sexual assault presume that a perpetrator is going to want to use contraception.

“If a dude is crazy enough to not get consent, he’d probably (not) give a sh*t about a four hand requiring condom and just go bareback,” wrote one person on Twitter.

“Result being worse. While this little play of activism capitalism seems empowering on the surface, it is utter bullshit.”

Another said: “Good thing all rapists buy consent condoms.”

Although the condom appears to be more representative of a consent campaign rather than a practical product, it does send the wrong message about what consent means and when it can be revoked.

(Spoiler: it’s at any point.)