Recently a blogger friend, JenB posted the following –
Does anyone actually tie off condoms before throwing them away? I see it in every M/M romance I read, and even a few M/F romances, but never in real life. And we go through a lot of condoms at my house. The idea of a dude holding a slimy used condom in his hand long enough to actually tie the little fucker in a knot makes me queasy.
Why can’t you just wrap it in a tissue and toss it in the garbage? Tying it off seems like one step short of disposing of it in a biohazard container. I mean…shit…next I’ll hear that we ladies should be throwing our used tampons away in plastic baggies. So what’s the deal?
As expected, this post generated a lot of comments from readers. The consensus was that no guy (we couldn’t find any) ties off condoms before throwing them in the trash. So why do the majority of M/M writers seem to think this is important if no one does it in real life? Since it’s an undisputed statistic that the majority of M/M writers are women, probably there are a lot of female writers who are neat freaks that think the way condoms are disposed of is REALLY IMPORTANT to their readers so they make a big deal about it. Do readers really care about this? If not, why is it so prominent in M/M and some M/F erotic romances?
I am particularly interested in the perspective of M/M writers but readers of the genre who would like to express an opinion are welcome. Why is condom disposal featured so prominently in M/M books? Do the publishers insist on it? As a prolific reader of the genre it drives me nuts because I don’t really care whether guys make a bow on the used condom before getting rid of it. Do other readers care about whether two guys having sex are really tidy after all that heavy breathing? Can the protags actually THINK, let alone do something that is so foreign to their nature? To the readers, do you have any experience with guys who tie off condoms before disposing of them? Also, do guys check whether their new partners are allergic to latex (some people are) or do they get non-latex condoms just in case.
In Jen’s unscientific survey she couldn’t find anyone who knew any men that did this dastardly deed (or would admit to it) and I’m just wondering, if it doesn’t happen in real life, what’s the deal? This is driving us readers crazy and we want to know the rationale behind it.
Of course this doesn’t play in paranormal books because there is no danger of passing on any sexually transmitted disease = no condoms heh heh! :DD. Comments please!
All of the comments on this post were lost when it was transferred from Blogger to WordPress.