Myth Busted: Smart Women Carry Condoms

Have you heard this statement? Perhaps you believe it yourself. Intelligent women dating today know enough to take care of themselves and carry their own condoms. When I first started dating again after a 20-year break, I thought this way. Ironically, what shifted my thinking shifted my thinking was finding out that the only way I could ever have the hope of having safe sex was if I carried my own condoms. I began to wonder how it was that so many men asked for sex, yet never had a condom.

I learned to reframe this statement—women who want to be safe and have sex carry condoms. There’s nothing wrong with either of these practices. I want to be safe and have sex, too. But I’ve come to believe that smart women wait for the right man who will care enough about himself and her to be prepared and be willing to use protection to keep them both safe. Ladies, you are worth his making a trip to the drug store! Gentlemen, this is your time to take the lead. We won’t ask you for a tampon, so please don’t expect us to supply the condoms. Think of it this way: the sock does not need the shoe; it needs the foot. It wouldn’t matter how many shoes you owned, if you didn’t have feet, you wouldn’t need socks. The reality is this: Men worth having sex with carry and use condoms.