The condom pack that takes 4 hands to open to assure consent

By Tono Gil Buenos Aires — Two people and four hands are needed to open the new box of condoms known as the Consent Pack, which sends the message that the mutual agreement of a couple is essential in order to proceed with sexual relations.

On the four sides of the cardboard box bearing the slogan “Consensual pleasure. If she doesn’t say Yes it’s No” are eight points that must all be pressed by the couple at the same time to open the package so they can take out the contraceptive hidden inside.

Felipe Kopelowicz, president of Kopelco, a corporation that includes the Tulipan sex-products company and who is head of the project, admitted to EFE that “this pack can’t ward off sexual abuse,” but he believes that the launch of this campaign will “raise awareness of the fact that there must be consent at all times.”

Tulipan has distributed around 2,000 of these unique packs in bars, restaurants and other public places.

And though the Kopelco president said that people have shown an interest in buying them, he noted that the Consent Pack is delivered free, since in this matter, “sales are of secondary importance.”

News of the project has made the rounds on social networks, though some who read about it fail to realize that the message is more conceptual than practical.

“The funny thing is that comments began to appear on Twitter like: ‘Well, just imagine if in that moment of intimacy we have to open the pack like that, with our four hands. That’s crazy,’” Kopelowicz laughed.

“What happens in Argentina is that in a large percentage of relations, the guys aren’t careful and force themselves on the girls, who have no other choice but to accept,” the president of Kopelco said.

“These are matters of great concern in Argentina,” he said, but added that “not only does the Consent Pack empower women to impose that protection,” but also tells men there can never be an excuse for forcing women to do something they don’t want to.

The campaign also intends to raise awareness about the need to use condoms to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

According to the Argentine Health Secretary, 98 percent of people who have the HIV virus were infected during unprotected sexual relations.