The First Official, FDA-Approved Anal Sex Condom Is Here

If you are a person who has penetrative intercourse, you’re probably aware that you should be using condoms during it — regardless of whether or not you actually do. You’ve probably also assumed that this policy applies to all forms of penetrative sex, including anal. But while most sexual health experts would agree with you, and have long encouraged use of condoms during anal sex, condoms weren’t technically, officially approved for anal sex until literally this week — in the FDA’s eyes, anyway.

That all changed Wednesday, when the FDA officially authorized the first condom to be used for protection from HIV and STIs during anal sex, the New York Times reported. The honor goes to the ONE male condom, manufactured by Global Protection Corp., which asked the FDA to allow the company to add anal sex to the intended use of the condom on the product label last year. The company demonstrated that their condoms are sufficiently anal-sex-proof by submitting a study that found the failure rate — AKA breaking or slipping — of their condoms during anal sex was less than one percent. The approval means that ONE condoms can now officially claim their products are for protection during anal sex and market them as such, and that other condom makers can now request the FDA to grant them the same sanction.

This is good news, considering the FDA claims risk of STIs is “significantly higher” during anal sex than vaginal sex, and an FDA official told the New York Times that this authorization may make people more likely to use condoms during anal. Seems like a win-win, right?

So, uh, what took them so long? Apparently there simply hasn’t been enough data until now to demonstrate the effectiveness of condoms during anal sex in the eyes of the FDA. (We can speculate as to why that dearth of information on the subject exists, but lingering homophobia surrounding anal sex and AIDS seems like a pretty safe bet.) So while health experts have long encouraged condom use during anal, butt stuff has technically been an “off-label” use until now.

That’s all in the past now though, so please, go forth and enjoy your FDA-sanctioned, condom-protected butt sex.