By Justin Lehmiller
People don’t always use condoms consistently, and there are a large number of reasons for this. However, one that has increasingly been of interest to sex scientists is something termed condom use resistance. This occurs when the partners don’t agree on whether condoms should be used and the one who doesn’t want to use a condom tries to convince the other to forgo protection.
To date, most of the research on condom use resistance has focused on heterosexual men and the tactics they use to convince their female partners that condoms aren’t necessary. For example, one study of just over 300 single men found that 80% had successfully used at least one condom resistance tactic with a female partner before [1]. Most commonly, they reported relying on seduction (getting her so turned on that she wouldn’t want to use a condom) and reassurance (convincing her that he was “clean” and that protection wasn’t necessary). See here for a summary of the results of this study.
However, it turns out that men aren’t the only ones who engage in condom use resistance. A new study published in the Journal of Sex Research suggests that a surprisingly large number of women have done it before, too—and they use a lot of the same tactics that men do [2].
In this study, researchers surveyed 235 heterosexual, sexually active women online. On average, participants were about 19 years old and the vast majority (80%) were college students. All participants completed a survey in which they were asked how many times they had successfully employed each of 10 different condom use resistance tactics (note that this list is the same one that was used in the earlier study of men mentioned above).
What they found was that just about half (48.5%) of women had successfully used at least one of these tactics. It’s also worth highlighting that, on average, women reported 16 different instances in which they engaged in condom use resistance.
Just like the aforementioned study of men, the most common tactics used were risk-level reassurance and seduction (used by 38% and 33% of women, respectively). Lesser-used tactics included direct requests not to use condoms, saying that condoms reduce sensitivity, saying they would be angry if their partner disagreed, and emphasizing how much they trust each other.
Some went as far as to lie, threaten, and force their partners to avoid using condoms. Specifically, 5.5% pretended they had been tested for STIs when they really hadn’t, 3% threatened to withhold sex unless their partner complied, 3% engaged in sabotage (such as by removing a condom during sex without their partner’s knowledge), and 3% used force (such as laying on top of a partner so he couldn’t get a condom). Incidentally, when you compare these numbers to the previous study of men, it seems that men may be a bit more willing to resort to deception and sabotage than women.
Lastly, the researchers also found that women’s condom use resistance was linked to seeing oneself as invulnerable to STIs as well as consuming alcohol prior to sexual activity.
Though this study did not involve a representative sample of women, the results are nonetheless informative because they tell us that condom use resistance seems to be a common behavior among women and men alike (though seemingly more frequent among men). Usage of these tactics obviously increases the risk of spreading and contracting STIs; as such, more research is needed in this area, especially work that more closely examines why this behavior occurs and how we can most effectively reduce it.
References:
[1] Davis, K. C., Stappenbeck, C. A., Norris, J., George, W. H., Jacques-Tiura, A. J., Schraufnagel, T. J., & Kajumulo, K. F. (2014). Young men’s condom use resistance tactics: a latent profile analysis. The Journal of Sex Research, 51(4), 454-465.
[2] Wegner, R., Lewis, M. A., Davis, K. C., Neilson, E. C., & Norris, J. (2017). Tactics young women use to resist condom use when a partner wants to use a condom. The Journal of Sex Research.
Interested in reading more about condom use research? Find out about the work of the Kinsey Institute’s Condom Use Research Team (KI-CURT)
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Dr. Justin Lehmiller is an award winning educator and a prolific researcher and scholar. He has published articles in some of the leading journals on sex and relationships, written two textbooks, and produces the popular blog, Sex & Psychology. Dr. Lehmiller’s research topics include casual sex, sexual fantasy, sexual health, and friends with benefits. His latest book is Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life. Follow him on Twitter @JustinLehmiller.