Interrupting sex to put on a condom is a problem, and not only for the young. Some older men enjoy prolonged lovemaking during which their erection comes and goes. Deciding when to put it on is stressful. It is difficult getting them on the right way round in the dark. Some flavoured or fun varieties are not lubricated and are difficult to apply. One youngster said, ‘Girls are not like blokes. You find you have just got her ready when . . . bother it. Half a minute to ‘get dressed’ and she’s gone off.’

Men do not like buying them. They talk of the embarrassment of feeling that shop assistants believe condoms are for a mistress rather than a regular partner. They do not trust mail order companies not to divulge details to other sales agencies. Bulk buys are perceived as being generic and possibly substandard. A more popular method than over-the-counter sales is by using a credit card to buy from an advertisement in a woman’s magazine. Selling here is seen as conferring some special degree of approval – and can be left more easily for the partner to do. At the other extreme, one young man told me, ‘It is best to make a joke of it. Go up to a young assistant in a chemist with a packet and ask her what this sort are like.’ Not necessarily a joke for the shop assistant. If this man, with his general lack of embarrassment, finds buying a problem, then it must deter some men altogether.

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