UHS To Review Safety of Condoms

Students seeking safe sex may have come upon a new kind of barrier, in light of concern about the reliability of Harvard’s free Lifestyles condoms. But according to representatives the Community Health Initiative (CHI), a student-staffed arm of University Health Services (UHS) that provides the free condoms, there is no reason to stop using them.

At the Female Orgasm Seminar that the Radcliffe Union of Students hosted last week, speaker Kim Airs, owner of the sexuality boutique “The Grand Opening,” warned against the use of Lifestyles condoms, saying that they barely meet federal safety guidelines.

Her warning caused a stir at Harvard, where the free condoms most readily available to students are from the Lifestyles brand. Representatives from CHI refill boxes in the basements of undergraduate dorms twice a week. But condom selections are being reviewed in the wake of Airs’ comment, according to Emily W. Hogeland ’07, a CHI representative for Dunster House.

“We realize that many students rely upon the condoms that we supply, and UHS is undertaking the data review since they are dedicated to making sure that students are using trustworthy condoms,” Hogeland wrote in an e-mail.

Keli Ballinger, who is director of UHS Center for Health and Wellness and supervisor for CHI, said research to date doesn’t substantiate Airs’ claim,

“We have made several calls and looked at all forms of literature in the past and today, with no indication as to any reason why Lifestyles should be avoided at this point,” Ballinger wrote in an e-mail. “In fact, a review for the public by Consumer Reports rates the Lifestyles Ultra Sensitive, which we provide, as one of the top three condoms for reliability and strength.”

Ballinger also said she had spoken with David C. Olson, practice director of obstetrics and gynecology at UHS and a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who agreed that condoms available on the market now have been tested thoroughly and are of equivalent efficienty. He said that user preference is often a deciding factor.

In 2003, CHI provided Durex-brand condoms, but switched brands in accordance with student preferences, despite the slightly higher cost of Lifestyles condoms. Condom usage, or the jumped from 24,468 to 31,589 after the switch, according to Ballinger.

She also said that other schools such as Yale and the University of Pennsylvania provide Lifestyles condoms for their students.

Some say they don’t intend to let Airs’ allegation get in the way of their pursuits.

“Any condom is a good condom, and using LifeStyles is better than using nothing,” wrote Jenna M. Mellor ’07, one of the organizers of last week’s Female Orgasm Seminar, in an e-mail. “I would rather use a LifeStyles condom than not have sex or have unprotected sex.”

She said Japanese-brand condoms such as Kimono and Inspiral were thinner and stronger, because they conform to higher safety regulations.

“If Harvard is interested in students having safer sex, we should be given the condoms that are least likely to break!” she wrote. “It is nominally more expensive, but so worth it.”

Mellor also suggested that CHI provide lubricant and dental dams in addition to condoms, and cited Peer Contraceptive Counselors (PCC), another student-run sexual health organization, as a good place to find condom variety.

According to Ballinger, 31,589 condoms were distributed to the Harvard Community last year, with Quincy House demanding the most out of all the Houses.

“Free condoms on campus are awesome!” Mellor wrote. “Safer sex is better sex, and it is important that we have access to free condoms because they can be expensive, inconvenient, and embarrassing to buy.”

According to Ballinger, condoms are also available at counselling service Room 13 in the Yard, as well as on the second floor of UHS and at PCC.