“I can’t remember the last time a guy volunteered to get a condom,” says Tina*, 30, who is currently single and casually dating. “I am always the one that has to bring it up. And even when I do, they seem surprised. It feels like I’m asking them to do me a favour.”

This might sound odd when you consider the fact that this ‘favour’ could save Tina’s sexual partners from infertility or organ damage caused by contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and leaving it untreated or – depending on her contraception status – an unwanted pregnancy. And yet, her experience illustrates a trend that seems to be becoming more prevalent, particularly among millennials and Gen Z: condoms have become deeply uncool.

One US study from 2017 by the National Center for Health Statistics found that only a third of men use condoms some of the time. But just one in five (19%) used them every time. Meanwhile, a Scottish study of 16-24-year-olds in 2021 found that more than one-third of respondents had not used a condom the first time they had sex with their most recent partner, which means they’re going into new sexual relationships with a seemingly laissez-faire approach to STIs and, often, contraception.

Unprotected sex is on the rise. What will it take to make condoms cool?