As the
world's top condom experts convene this week to update
international standards, one American entrepreneur has a
simple message: Size matters.
As the world's
top condom experts convene this week to update
international standards, one American entrepreneur has a
simple message: Size matters.
It's shaking up
an industry that has generally taken a one-size-fits-all
approach.
Frank Sadlo,
founder of TheyFit, which makes what he claims are the
world's first custom-fit condoms, is pushing for updated
standards to allow greater variation in condom size.
It's not just
about well-endowed men in cramped prophylactic quarters,
Sadlo told a meeting Thursday of delegates from 21 countries
under the Geneva-based International Organization for
Standardization.
When given a
choice, he said many men prefer condoms smaller than the
standard minimum 6.3 inches long, with more than half
ordering those less than 5.12 inches.
At the session in
Seogwipo on South Korea's Jeju Island, more than 100
representatives -- including leading manufacturers,
government standards bodies, and aid groups -- pored
over 42 pages of specifications and testing
requirements for condoms.
Standards are
especially crucial -- failure could mean the spread of
potentially deadly diseases or unwanted pregnancy.
''Our job is to
do away with inferior condoms,'' said Eng Long Ong,
meeting chairman and deputy head of the Malaysian Rubber
Export Promotion Council, which estimates 13 billion
to 14 billion condoms are made each year.
Getting quality
condoms can be especially difficult in places like
Africa, where they are a major part of AIDS prevention
campaigns.
Ian Matondo, an
adviser to the Malawi Health Ministry, said the issue of
condoms breaking in Africa had nothing to do with the size
of men's penises but was due to poor manufacturing.
The standard for
testing condom strength is to fill it with air, a
technique pioneered by the Swedes in the 1950s. Condoms of
the standard length and width must hold at least 4.76
gallons of air, far more than they would ever be
expected to contain under normal use.
Varying condom
size would require standards and testing equipment to
change and is expected to require another a year for
approval, Sadlo said.
The length issue
is just one of many being debated at the five-day
meeting, the 24th such session since 1975, where delegates
were creating new standards for synthetic and female
condoms.
Synthetic
polyurethane condoms are an alternative for people allergic
to rubber latex and can be thinner without losing
strength. They also conduct heat better for ''much
more sensitivity with lovemaking,'' said Grant Burt,
international division director for Japan's Sagami Rubber
Industries Co.
Female condoms
are seeing increasing use in Africa, where they are often
distributed for free so women can take control of disease
prevention, said Matondo.
Innovation for
male condoms has focused on adding textures to enhance
sexual pleasure, or offering different colors or lubricants.
At the meeting, South Korean manufacturer Unidus
displayed its ''Long-Love'' condom, featuring
desensitizing cream inside to prevent premature
ejaculation so men ''make a lasting impression.''
Widths vary but
condom length is usually standard, as it believed latex
can stretch to fit all men. The average adult penis is 5-6
inches long, experts said.
Sadlo said his
inspiration for custom condoms arose from his days playing
baseball at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, where
locker room tales of exploits with the opposite sex
often failed to include use of condoms due to
complaints they did not fit.
A more
comfortable condom contributes to men actually using them,
said Michael Reece, director of the Center for Sexual
Health Promotion at Indiana University.
''Typically, when
a man complains about condom fit, we have assumed that
he means that condoms are too small and we have often just
ignored this complaint because we think that men are
bragging about the size of their penis,'' Reece said
via e-mail.
He said men also
have problems with condoms being too large.
''It is time for
those who establish condom manufacturing standards to
consider whether an expanded range of condom sizes is
necessary,'' Reece said.
Sadlo offers a
''fit kit,'' a sheet of paper printed from a computer for
sizing, and advising the user to watch out for paper cuts.
The chart runs only from long to longer.
The product was
offered from 2003 to 2006 in the United States before he
withdrew it to upgrade from 55 to 95 sizes. Changing
international standard would make it easier to widely
offer the product, rather than seeking approval in
each country.
Sadlo said it has
been difficult to transform the condom industry.
''In order to
bring about revolutionary change, you need to have the
mind-set of a trailblazer, you need to keep focused on your
vision,'' he said. (AP)
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1