Preface: This is a review of a female condom and contains adult sexual situations. If you are easily offended by these topics, please stop reading this review.
Sexual awareness and protection isn't a laughing matter or something to joke about. With that being said, I needed a five or six dollar item when I was ordering from a website in order to qualify for free shipping. When I saw the listing for the Reality Female Condom I just shook my head. I was getting ready to click to the next page when I heard a booming voice from behind me, "I dare you. No. I double dog dare you!" It wasn't my subconscious, it was Tommy. I looked over my shoulder and asked him if he was serious. He said that if I had the guts to buy it he'd step up to the plate and give it a test run. That was months ago; with the new listings here at Epinions and the plethora of amazing and slightly disturbing things that can now be reviewed I did something that I am sure a few other people have also tried. Pick a random word, enter it into the search engine and see what wonderful results you get. I entered "penis" and was floored that there were 59 pages in the result. Trolling through them and giggling up a storm I saw the listing for Reality Female Condoms and knew that I had to bookmark it and write a review of it.
Reality Female Condom
What exactly is a female condom? It is what some might say the exact opposite to a male worn condom. Instead of being rolled over an erect penis, it is inserted into the vagina and held in place with two soft rings. The advantage to a female condom is that you do not have to wait until the male is erect to apply it so if you are in the middle of an encounter it won't ruin things. You can insert this up to fifteen minutes before penetration takes place but you will want to make sure that it is still seated correctly and that the penis enters the condom instead of the vagina. Another perk to this is that there is less of a chance of it breaking and this is a "one size fits all" type of product. Shy guys no longer have to worry about walking into a store and looking at a rack, picking out a condom that they like and then having to go through the extras like style, color and size. The FC, Female Condom, is about as plain and boring as it comes. No bumps, ridges, pleasure dots, colors or scents. Its polyurethane and it's rather funny when you first get it out of the wrapper.
How does it work? Think of it as a condom for the vagina instead of the penis. You partially unroll it, slide it over your fingers and insert it into your vagina. Make sure that the larger ring is on the outside of the vagina and the smaller one is the one that is being inserted. Push the condom as far inside as possible; if you are laughing at this point in time you can ask your partner for some help. You don't have to get it seated perfectly but it does help to try and get it filled out so that when the event happens, he isn't hitting any speed bumps. Can you use a lubricant with the FC? You can if you want but we didn't. Tommy said that it was loose enough that there wasn't a painful friction. The FC doesn't have to be removed right after intercourse either; that doesn't mean that you are ready for round two, just that you don't have to worry about the penis getting flaccid and the condom coming off or getting lost. Can this get pushed into the vagina? Yes but that is where the female has to keep track of things. The larger outer ring is there to keep it from getting accidentally pushed into the vagina but accidents do happen.
If you are wearing this to prevent pregnancy then you may want to remove it as soon as possible after intercourse or stop all together if the penis has entered the vagina instead of the condom. The FC isn't for everyone and if you are squeamish about things like this, chances are you aren't going to have good luck with it. If you are a woman that knows what she wants and doesn't want to leave it up to a man to be the one that is responsible for safe sex or encounters then the FC is a good pick. There are some drawbacks to it but there are pros and cons with everything so if you are curious, give it a try and see if it is something that you can use. If nothing else, I can almost guarantee you will get more than a few laughs from it.
Sensation. Humm. I am going to have to do this in a two part format; one from my side of the fence and another from Tommy's. For me, it was a little strange inserting the condom and getting it all the way in. To use this correctly you should try to get it as far as you can into the vagina so that it doesn't bunch up. First off, there is some noise involved. A slight squishing noise accompanies movement by either person involved. Think of it as that noise your shoes make when they get wet in the rain .. yeah, very romantic right. You have to make sure that the penis goes into the condom and not next to it, if your partner is into switching positions a lot or likes to pull out, chances are you are going to end up with at least a few misplaced jabs. We don't use condoms on a regular basis but since I had these I really wanted to try them out to see what the big deal was about. They might be nice if you are one of the "Sex In The City" girls but I honestly can't see women using these on a regular basis and getting much pleasure from them.
When I asked Tommy what it felt like I had to wait for him to stop laughing. Yes, there was a lot of that going on through the whole event but hey, if you can't laugh with your partner when you are having sex and experimenting with things like this, its not a whole hell of a lot of fun. He gave me a three minute explanation of what it was like from his point of view; two minutes and thirty seconds of it can't be used because the content filter wouldn't allow it. Essentially he said it felt like he was inside a piece of plastic wrap. It wasn't uncomfortable but it wasn't all that fun. This was the first time I ever heard him say that he would rather wear a condom than visa versa. His funniest comment was, "If I wanted to have sex with a plastic bag, I wouldn't have picked up Chinese take out on the way home"
Cost. These do cost more than regular condoms that are worn by males. Most of them are in the three dollar range; Reality is priced at $2.75 per condom but there are price breaks if you buy them in larger quantities. Are they a better pick than traditional male condoms? That is a tough call; it all depends on how secure you are with your body and if you have the ways and means to insert it correctly. These are nice if you don't want to ask a man to "do the deed" but sex is a two way street so if he is completely against wearing a condom, maybe you need to rethink the relationship. Reality Condoms underwent a slight name change. They are now called FC, Female Condoms but are still made by Reality and are the same exactly product. All that has changed is the package and name. You can check out the specs on this at one of my favorite condom sites, Rip N Roll Condoms or visiting this URL: www.ripnroll.com/women's.htm#Reality
The Bottom Line
When it was all said and done we had a blast trying out the FC. There was a lot of "wait, umm, hang on" comments at first because I wasn't sure if it was still in the right spot or position. Tommy was a trooper; he was shaking his head and saying, "I pray that site never gets these listed". He won't even say the name of the site any more [Epinions] but instead refers to it as "E". I doubt I would make use of the FC in the near future but it is nice to know that they are available. If you are looking for a safe birth control aid or a way to protect yourself against a sexually transmitted disease, check out the Female Condom.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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