for all you heteros out there...

Yay for research. A new lube-type product in the research/almost-testable stage may be functional not only as a no-babies-for-me contraceptive, but could prevent the spread of STI's, including HIV/AIDS, as well.

Basically, you insert it into your vagina via a capsule, cream, or gel prior to hetero intercourse, and there's no need for a condom (which, my straight friends tell me, can be rather unpleasant and annoying). If all goes well with testing and studies, they could be marketable w/in 3 years.

Plus, us feminists like it too:

Perhaps the most significant benefit is the product's ability to empower women. Rather than negotiating the use of a condom, women would be able to apply the cream with disregard to the sentiment of their partner.

I wonder, though, if it'd work for my gay boys too. Obviously, they don't have to worry about the contraceptive aspect of the stuff, but they (like everyone who engages in sex with anyone other than themselves) do have to worry about the STI-prevention part. And I'd presume that lube would be helpful in such sex as gay men tend to have. The article, however, mentions nothing about its use in anal sex, just a general celebration that heteros might not have to use condoms anymore. Which is all well and good, but...where're the gays?