Six years after its controversial launch, Tulipán's consent condom campaign remains relevant in today's conversations about sexual ethics and product messaging.

A Statement Meant To Promote That Consent Is Crucial

The company Tulipán based in Argentina has come up with some new packaging that requires four hands to open it up. This packaging was made to promote consent by showing that both parties have to agree to have sex so that they can open the box together. The company states that it takes four hands pressing simultaneously on all the buttons present on the box for it to open. It is being heavily advertised for being an innovative and creative way to get consent as their tag line reads “If they don’t say yes, It means no”.

The company has received backlash in regards to this product on social media. While people are cheering on its effort in bringing awareness to the topic of consent there has been backlash too. Many groups feel like this condom is trivializing a dynamic matter in the best case scenario while in the wort it’s an ableist tool.

Why The Backlash?

A person has the right to stop at any given time and consent is more than the initial yes. The main reason for mass’s discomfort with this product is that it gives off the idea that once the package is open we are good to go. It makes it seem like consent can’t be withdrawn once given, which is wrong. People are allowed to change their mind. Another point raised by the people was that this item could be used to discredit an assault. The assaulter could say ‘If they didn’t say yes how could I have opened the condoms?’  Proving Assault in the court of law is hard enough without giving people more ammunition.

The fact that it needs four hands to open it might get tricky for people with special needs. This causes a large section of people to be marginalized.

What Can Actually Help In Understanding Consent

Another point raised is that people don’t tend to use condoms because of its inconvenience. Making it harder to open the packaging might cause them to not use it at all. At the end of the day, a condom is not going to make people think about consent. It’s proper sex education and a thorough knowledge of what exactly is consent and how it works in different situations. Educating people will cause far more change than a complicated condom or any other such products.

While this product has a plethora of negatives it has sparked a debate and interest on the topic of consent. People are talking about consent and handling rejection in a healthy manner. There have been multiple articles including this one that are taking steps to inform people about the importance of consent.

A harder to use condom, in the end, is not particularly practical nor is it useful. This product feels more like a gimmick rather than an actual solution to sexual assault. The topic of consent is something that should be negotiated from person to person but in the end, there is one rule- People are allowed to say no at any given time to sex irrespective of whether they are strangers or have been married for decades. A no is a no at any point of time and should always be listened to.