Subject to romance - Heterosexual passivity as an obstacle to women initiating condom use

Safer sex campaigns directed at heterosexuals have increasingly targeted wo men to encourage them to take responsibility for condom use. It appears, ho wever, that many women are unable or unwilling to accept this role. In this article we report on one particular kind of obstacle that some women face in initialing condom use. We draw on data from interviews with 14 women, ag ed 22 to 43 years, about their experiences with, and views of, condoms. The re was considerable variability, as well as commonalities, among the women interviewed in the way they regarded condoms. Using a feminist poststructur alist form of discourse analysis, we explored two women's accounts of being unable to initiate condom use despite their stated intentions not to have intercourse without a condom and having condoms in their possession. We sug gest that this particular dynamic results from the passivity women can expe rience th rough being positioned in a discourse of heterosexual feminine se xuality in general and a discourse of heterosexual romance in particular. W e discuss how this passivity can be experienced by women who are otherwise assertive and committed to sexual equality, making it confusing and disconc erting for them and others.