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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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taken from the article....
The FC1's successor, the FC2 - made of non-rustling synthetic latex - is far more successful than many in the West realise. It is available in 138 countries, sales have more than doubled since 2007, and the Female Health Company has been turning a profit for eight years.
The vast majority of sales are to four customers - the US aid agency (USAID), the UN and the ministries of health in Brazil and South Africa. Donors and public health officials are keen on anything that gives women the upper hand in what they call "condom negotiation" with men.
Footage of female condom activists from Pathfinder International
Female condoms have other advantages too. They can be inserted hours before sex, meaning that there is no distraction at the crucial moment, and they don't need to be removed immediately afterwards. For women, there is better protection from sexually transmitted infections, since the vulva is partially covered by an outer ring that keeps the device in place.
User feedback is also pretty good.
A 2011 survey found that 86% of women were interested in using the method again and 95% would recommend trying them to friends.
"Many people report that female condoms heighten sexual pleasure," says Saskia Husken from the Universal Access to Female Condom Joint Program (UAFC). For men, they are less tight than male condoms. For women, the large ring of the condom - which remains outside the vagina - can also be stimulating.
In Africa, the free availability of female condoms at clinics has led to an unexpected fashion trend. Women have taken to removing the flexible ring from the device and using it as a bangle. "If you are [romantically] available you have a new bangle on," says Marion Stevens from the female health campaigning body Wish Associates. "If you are in a long-term relationship your bangle is old and faded."
A demonstration of the female condom in a marketplace in Nigeria
Meyiwa Ede, from the Society of Family Health in Nigeria, says that while men are often excited by the prospect of sex without having to wear a regular condom, women are taken aback by their first glimpse of the device.
"They look at it and say 'OK - are you saying I have to put that in myself?'" she says.
Ede's team of demonstrators use a mannequin to show the condom is inserted and compare the task to using a new phone - bewildering at first, but second nature after a while.
In most developed countries there is still that 20-year-old image problem to overcome.
"I think the issue is when you open the package they're already open - they're not like male condoms that are in these neat little packages and then they're unrolled," says Mags Beksinska from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. "In fact, they're the same length as a male condom so if you hold the two together open, they're not that different."
Clockwise from top, the Woman's Condom, Cupid and VA Wow
Beksinska is the lead author of a clinical trial recently published in the Lancet of three new models of female condom:
¦The Woman's Condom, already available in China and soon to be distributed in South Africa, is the fruit of a 17-year project by Path - an NGO that specialises in health innovation - which has tested more than 50 versions. Out of the packet, it's smaller than the FC2. It looks like a tampon, with most of the condom gathered into a rounded polyvinyl capsule, which dissolves inside the vagina. Once it has expanded, dots of foam help keep it in place.
¦The Cupid is available in India, South Africa and Brazil. It is vanilla scented and comes in pink or natural colours. It is currently the only model besides the FC2 to have been qualified by the World Health Organization (WHO) for public-sector purchase. A smaller version aimed at the Asian market is in trial.
¦The VA Wow, like the Cupid, contains a sponge which helps users to insert the condom and prevents it slipping.
The Lancet study, which showed that all were no less reliable than the FC2, improves their chances of gaining wide acceptance internationally.
Other radically redesigned female condoms are either available now, or will be soon.
Two female condoms from Innova Quality
The Air Condom, on sale in Colombia, features a little pocket of air to aid insertion.
The Panty Condom, made by the same Colombian manufacturer, Innova Quality, is packaged with a special pair of knickers, which keep the condom in place, though this product currently lacks a distributor.
Meanwhile, a female condom known as the Origami is about a year away from market launch in the US.
Its designer, Danny Resnic, who started to work in this area after contracting HIV because of a broken condom in 1993, paid close attention to the jokes about the FC1.
"There's a reason it looks like a plastic bag - it is a plastic bag," he says. "It's putting a round peg into a different-shaped hole."
His female condom is oval-shaped, which mirrors the female anatomy he says. It is packaged as a teat-shaped capsule (see image at the top of this story), and once inserted it expands like the bellows of a concertina. The outer ring of the condom is designed to sit flat against the labia, rather than dangling as some others do.
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i would definitely give it a try, having the ability to not break the flow of passion would be great 
That's what I was thinking.