Click to talk to a trained teen volunteer.

Title image for guide on using internal and external condoms

How to Use Internal and External Condoms

Condoms are just tubes, right? So how difficult can they be?

Answer: Not very difficult at all! But they can be! Wait, what?

External Condoms (that go on penises* or sex toys) are 97% effective at preventing pregnancy when used correctly. Internal Condoms (that go inside vaginas* or butts) are 95% effective when used correctly. But these percentages drop to 86% and 80% (respectively), when people don’t use them properly. And it’s hard to use something properly if you’ve never been taught how! When it comes to learning about safer sex, lots of people don’t even get the “Condom on a Banana” demo in sex ed class. And don’t event get us started about using condoms to prevent the transfer or STIs! (Actually, please do get us started on it. We have lots of info.)

Anyways, with all that in mind, we here at Teen Health Source made some new condom demo guides! You can check out the How To pages on our website here:

Or download some PDFs of the guides:

Please feel free to print and share these guides! We have a limited number of these already in print, so please get in touch if you’re in the GTA and want physical copies: teenhealthsource@ppt.on.ca.

Our thanks to Victor Martins for the super helpful art!

If you have questions about this topic, feel free to contact one of our peer educators. [Link]

Last Updated: April 2020

____

*We know that these aren’t the words everyone uses for their bodies (eg. trans folks), and support you using the language that feels best for you.

  • What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

    This article talks about Seasonal Affective Disorder, a form of depression that usually affects people in colder, darker months of the year.

  • It's a 3/4 view of the right side of a human body, from just above the knees to just above the elbows. There's a black banner over the butt with white text that reads "DOUCHING"

    A Quick Guide to Anal Douching

    Although douching is usually unnecessary, some people feel the need to douche in order to know for sure that no poop will come out during anal play. And that’s totally okay! Check out this quick guide to learn more about how to do it safely!

  • The left is fuchsia text that reads "The Blood Ban" Barriers to Donating Blood in Canada." On the right is an icon of a blood bag with a Ban circle over top. The background is white.

    The Blood Ban: Barriers to Donating Blood in Canada

    Blood donation has been in the news lately, as Canadian Blood Services are going to be changing some of their requirements around who can and can’t donate blood. In this article we’re going to talk about blood, how blood donation works, HIV/AIDS, and more!