Users and policymakers about the female condom
"The male condom was promoted so hard in advertising, through school education and advocacy – we need the same effort for the female condom," Farah Karimi, director of Oxfam-Novib, The Netherlands.
"It is about the right for women to have access to protection and their right to make choices for themselves. Schools should be teaching boys and girls about the female condom but, sadly, most of them are not." Mary Robinson, former President of the Republic of Ireland and honorary president of Oxfam International.
Sandra Mapemba, national condom programme coordinator at the Reproductive Health Unit (RHU) in the Ministry of Health, Malawi, believes the female condom will empower women to have more control in their sexual relationships, help them protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV, as well as unwanted pregnancies.
Statements made in the film 'the female condom is here to stay':
“I feel the female condom is a good thing, I have not experienced any problems with it.” Woman white colar, brown shirt.
“I’m using it for family planning and also to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.” Woman, green shirt.
“I still enjoy having sex!” Woman, purple shirt with white flowers, scarf around head
“The main reason I started to use the female condom is because there was no place for a child in our family. So it has been a means for family planning for us.” Man
“If you look at the development of the female condom it has been very slow and that’s because not enough investment has been made into developing this product. The price is an issue, still is an issue. Also, there was not enough social marketing done in many settings where it could have been available, it was just not brought to the people.” Joep Lange- AIDS Specialist
“In the past, when there was only the male condom women were not empowered on issues of sex.” Eneles Mapira HIV & AIDS worker/activist
“The female condom is very good and feels good when you use it.” Man with white shirt
“The female condom, in my experience, I don’t have any problems with it. I’m going to use it for many years to come.” Woman from quote #1
“With the female condom you can have foreplay and sex is not interrupted. The female condom is also stronger than the male condom.” Man with gray shirt
“I was affected by the black out because it is my only means that I use for family planning. So I was much affected, I did not know what to do.” Woman with purple shirt and child
“That was a reason to stop having sex. The desire was still there, but we wanted to use the female condom. So we stopped having sex because there was nothing we could do” Man from quote #4
