carrying condoms: safe or slutty?

Here's a tough situation: you've decided to start having sex but want to protect yourself from both Sexually Transmitted Diseases and pregnancy, so you start to carry condoms — smart girl. But get this: The Body Shop and MTV Networks International just released research saying that only one in six women carry condoms in their handbags.

Based on what I observe from condom etiquette on my campus, the girls I know rarely bring protection. Most of my friends are on the pill so they figure they won’t get pregnant, but they don’t consider infections.

Over the summer, my friend considered having sex with a guy she had just met, but ended up telling him, "No," because he didn't have a condom. She told me later that she wanted to have sex with him and figured he would have one. (The same survey said that seven out of ten women believe that the guy should provide contraceptives.)

When I was in high school, I used to be mortified to buy condoms — I'd start sweating in the checkout line. The wording ("Magnum," "Twisted Pleasure") and graphics on the packaging freaked me out. I like Planned Parenthood's new brand of condoms because they’re really discrete. Now, at 22, buying doesn't phase me, but I'll admit that when I'm single, I don't think to carry condoms. It's not that I'm like the girls in the survey who are afraid of being labeled “easy.” It's just not in my direct thoughts.

So who do you think should carry the condoms? Is it wrong of us to assume the guy will have them? If you saw condoms in a girl’s handbag, what would you honestly think of her? Tell me what you think!

Xoxo,
Ariana Finlayson
Editorial Intern