Health Female: Let's Talk About Condoms

Monday, November 1, 2021

Let's Talk About Condoms

By Daphne Lee, News Editor

The award-winning series I May Destroy You explored so many aspects of consent through the lens of a sexual assault survivor. Fans have said that they learned new tools and words that could help process and reflect on their own sexual encounters.

I was most intrigued by an episode about "stealthing," a slang term for non-consensual condom removal during sex. I Googled it, assuming it would already be illegal in the United States, but I was wrong. So far, California is the first and only state to have outlawed stealthing.

What exactly is it? And why are we talking about it now?

Today's Top Story

Stealthing Is a Violation of Consent

Stealthing—or non-consensual condom removal—is considered a type of sexual assault. In California, it's a civil offense for someone to remove condom during sex without their partner's explicit verbal consent.

A survey found that nearly 19% of participants had experienced stealthing. Nearly all of them said stealthing is wrong, citing reasons such as a lack of consent and risk of STIs or unplanned pregnancies.

In 2017, Yale law student Alexandra Brodsky characterized stealthing as "rape-adjacent" in her term paper, inspiring conversations on the phenomenon and motivating California lawmakers to take action.

When people consent to sex with a condom, Brodsky argued, they're consenting to "touch by a condom, not to touch by the skin of a penis." If their partner violated that consent, it can bring emotional distress and physical harm.

Survivors said they not only feared STIs and unwanted pregnancies, but also experienced stealthing as a demeaning violation of their bodily autonomy and betrayal of trust.

Know More

Konrad Czechowski, a PhD student who has conducted extensive research on stealthing, says that consent is not simply a verbal yes or no before sex. Rather, it's a process that unfolds over time. "Someone might consent to an act at one moment," he says. "Then they may withdraw their consent, or there may be a number of things that they are consenting to during sexual intercourse—whether it's a different position, or whether it's continuing sex versus not continuing sex."

Feel Better

Experts say consent education is an important preventive tool for sexual assault and violence. For example, encouraging men to discuss the benefits of using a condom could help shift the narrative so that they don't only see condoms as an avoidance of risk.

Mental Health Disorders Pose High Risk for COVID-19

While people with mental disorders may be more likely to neglect COVID-19 precautions and treatments, their immune system is also more susceptible to the virus. Uncertainties from the pandemic have also exacerbated the prevalence of mental health issues. The CDC recently added mental health disorders such as schizophrenia and depression to its list of underlying medical conditions that allow people to be eligible for a booster shot.

Motivating Your Children to Exercise With an App

Kids have been spending much less time outside since the pandemic. Some doctors came up with a mobile app called Rumble Wellness, which can monitor children's activity levels. Users can earn "health coins" and prizes such as a pencil box or a Bluetooth speaker for reaching their fitness goals. Pediatricians then use the collected data to tailor personalized care sessions and recommendations to the children. These apps aren't available in the U.S. yet but will be coming soon.

Jaime Zuckerman, PsyD, a Philadelphia-based licensed clinical psychologist, recommends maintaining your routine during times of stress and uncertainties.

Maintain as much of a routine as possible to provide structure to your day-to-day life. We are creatures of habit, and our brains like to be able to predict what comes next. It helps to reduce the anxiety associated with uncertainty.