New 'consent condoms' require four hands to open special packaging

An Argentinian manufacturer has launched a line of condoms packaged in a way that it requires four hands to open the box.

Tulipan designed "consent condoms," which can be accessed only when two people using both of their hands press down simultaneously on four pressure points along the sides of the package, the New Zealand Herald reported. The package design is intended to promote mutual respect.

"If it's not a yes, it's a no," Joaquin Campins, general director of BBDO Argentina, said, according to the New Zealand Herald. BBDO worked with Tulipan on the brand. "Tulipan has always spoken of safe pleasure but for this campaign we understood that we had to talk about the most important thing in every sexual relationship — pleasure is possible only if you both give your consent first."

The company plans to hand out its limited-edition condoms packs at bars and other events in Buenos Aires for free before selling the product in stores.

Where did the idea come from?

The idea came about after the AIDS Healthcare Foundation Argentina released its results of a survey that showed fewer than 15 percent of the nation's men regularly used condoms during sex. AHF Argentina is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of those who are HIV positive.

An estimated 120,000 people in the country are HIV positive, according to the AHF website.

About 65 percent of the men said they used condoms occasionally. And nearly 21 percent said they had never used a condom.

What do experts say?

"Medicos del Mundo," which translates to "doctors of the world," has stressed the use of condoms in the fight against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Argentinian psychiatrist and sexologist Walter Ghedin said that sexual consent and the type of prophylactic used should be something that both people agree on.

"The agreement in sexual relations should be a guideline that begins before, during and after any relationship, it implies respect, mutual pleasure and confidentiality," Ghedin said, according to the Mirror. "The use of contraceptive methods is one of the issues that should be agreed upon, and the use of the prophylactic appears as a necessary question in both fleeting and stable relationships."

Tulipán: The Consent Packyoutu.be