THE FEMALE CONDOM: HOW DO YOU USE THE FEMALE CONDOM?

The female condom comes in a packet that is small enough to fit in a handbag.

To insert it:

1. Carefully tear open the packet. Although the polyurethane that the female condom is made from is pretty strong it is still possible to tear it with your fingernails or the sharp edge of a ring.

2. Rub the sides of the female condom together to spread around the lubricant that is already on it

3. Look at the flexible ring around the open end. We’ll call this the outer ring. There is another one at the closed end, and we’ll call this one the inner ring. If you know what a diaphragm looks like, the ring is about the same size as the rim of a diaphragm, and you put the inner ring into your vagina as though you were putting in a diaphragm.

4. Hold the inner ring between the thumb and middle finger of one hand.

5. Squeeze the inner ring to make a long thin shape.

6. With your other hand hold the lips of your vagina apart.

7. Slide the female condom while it is still squeezed, into your vagina and push it gently down and back as far as it will go. When it is in the right position you won’t be able to feel it. Don’t worry, it can’t go too far inside you, and it won’t hurt

8. The outer ring should fit just outside the vagina.

9. Make sure the female condom is not twisted inside your vagina.

10. Just before you are going to have sex you may want to add more lubricant

11. Guide the penis into the outer ring so that it doesn’t go in between the female condom and your vaginal wall, or you could get pregnant.

After sex you don’t have to remove the female condom right away, but it is best to take it out before you stand up.

To remove it

1. Take hold of the outer ring, squeeze it and then twist it to keep the semen inside.

2. Pull the female condom out gently, wrap it in a plastic bag and throw it in the bin. Do not flush it down the toilet.