Packing Protection in a Purse

By Dick Thompson

For years sexually active women have taken on the primary responsibility for contraception, mainly by using birth-control pills, diaphragms or IUDs. Now increasing numbers of women are also stocking up on the old-fashioned male condom, both to avoid pregnancy and to protect themselves against rampant sexually transmitted diseases, particularly chlamydia, herpes and AIDS. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health research organization based in Manhattan, reports in a new study that the number of unmarried women making use of condoms almost doubled between 1982 and 1987 to 2.2 million, or about 16% of the sexually active, fertile female population. Says Helen Fairman, 20, a Harvard sophomore: "It's playing Russian roulette not to use them."

Since the AIDS crisis surfaced in the early 1980s, American women have had plenty of reason to encourage their sexual partners to use condoms. U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop calls them "the best protection against AIDS infection right now, barring abstinence." Condom manufacturers have aimed aggressive advertising campaigns at women, emphasizing fear of infection rather than the usual male-oriented message about sexual pleasure. Until recently, women bought only a "small percentage" of condoms; now, an industry spokesman estimates, they represent some 40% of the $200 million U.S. market. "The 'C' word has come out of the closet," observes Barbara Lippert, a critic for Adweek magazine.

Although breaking the bias against condom ads in magazine advertising was rough going at first, the pages of Ms., Cosmopolitan and Mademoiselle, among others, regularly feature attractive models asking female readers, "Would you ( buy a condom for this man?" or "Why take your fears to bed?" Purrs one ad: "When you place a new Trojan for Women in his hands, it will show you're thinking about his health too."

The new focus has brought condoms out from under the druggist's counter. Trojan for Women, Mentor, Today sheaths and other brands can be found packaged in pastel-colored boxes in the feminine-hygiene sections of drugstores, supermarkets and convenience stores. One 27-year-old New Jersey executive, who admits to a "private blush" as she bought her first box of condoms, appreciates the new openness. "They weren't at the counter," she says. "I could comparison shop." Mentor Corp., based in Santa Barbara, Calif., helped crack the women's market in 1986 with the slogan "Smart Sex in the '80s." Says Christopher Conway, head of the firm: "We've found what women want is facts, not glowing, sex-is-wonderful advertising."

Health-care professionals applaud the feminization of the condom, though they warn it is not 100% effective in preventing either pregnancy or sexual diseases. Declares Dr. David Grimes, a professor at the University of Southern California School of Medicine: "Women's health is much too important to subcontract out to men." Still, cautions Dr. Eric Berger of the American Council on Science and Health in New York City, "if a condom is being touted as something that prevents AIDS transmission, its use alone is not enough."

Though researchers express surprise that more women are not buying condoms for protection, some women are concerned that responsibility for contraception and disease prevention is increasingly falling to them alone. "Let men take their half of the responsibility," says Janet Weintraub, 30, a New York City lawyer. Even so, as the epidemic spread of sexual diseases continues, more and more women are acknowledging that the only certain way to know that protection will be available when desired is to provide it themselves. Says Lisa Baroni, a 20-year-old college student: "Better for a woman to have a condom in her hand than for her to hope that he has one."

With reporting by Andrea Sachs/New York