The 'consent condom' fails to understand how consent actually works

Someone invented a condom to promote consent in relationships. Problem is, the people behind the product seem to have a very limited understanding of consent and sexual assault.

And the problems don't end there. Women have been voicing their concerns on Twitter about the condom's gamification of consent through the product's resemblance to a Rubick's Cube. Some have also raised concerns that the product appears designed to "protect men from rape accusations" rather than protecting women from sexual violence.

ICYMI, the "consent condom" in the invention of Tulipán, an Argentinian condom brand, designed to promote consent in sexual relationships. The product works by allegedly requiring four hands in order to open the package — a concept that does not take into account people with certain disabilities. Mashable tested out the concept and found a way to open the packaging with just two hands.

Holly Baxter, an editor at the Independent, wrote on Twitter that the condom taps into the already problematic nature of our culture's conversations about consent. "We see this a lot when we talk about consent — products and strategies devised (usually by men) which address the problem of 'women saying they get raped' rather than 'women experiencing sexual assault,'" she wrote.

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Guardian US opinion columnist Moira Donegan likened the product's concept to solving "a 3D puzzle to get the condom out the wrapper."

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Donegan also raised the point that someone who's perpetrating sexual assault, and who "doesn't care about consent", may not care about condoms either.

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One rather large flaw in the product is the complete lack of understanding of how consent actually works.

The use of a puzzle-like device to supposedly ensure consent doesn't factor into the fact that consent is something that's supposed to be "constantly negotiated", and not just a one-time negotiation that can only ever occur at the start of intercourse. As Jo Grady pointed out, it'd be a better use of resources and time to teach people that consent is not "just about opening a condom wrapper together."

As Lily Madigan explains in a Medium piece about enthusiastic consent, "consent isn't constant." "It can easily change and can initially be given hesitantly," writes Madigan. "Therefore, it’s so important to check with a sexual partner that they are comfortable with what is going on during a sexual encounter."

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Julia Pugachevsky, sex + relationships and astrology editor at Cosmopolitan, added that the condom was dumbing down the idea of "healthy communication re: sex in a harmful way." Pugachevsky rightly points out that putting on a condom does not constitute consent to "all sexual activity".

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The product has been likened to the recent consent videos and consent contract app that have emerged in the post-#MeToo backlash, which appears to be centred upon fears over men being falsely accused of sexual violence. Research actually suggests that men are more likely to be raped than falsely accused of rape, per Channel 4 fact-checking.

Maybe read up on consent before designing a product about it?