How women-led companies are trying to make condoms more appealing — to everyone – CBC

Canadian companies Jems and Slipp aim to change how condoms are marketed

Apr 30, 2023

With sexually transmitted infections surging to alarming levels in Canada and the U.S. over several years, a number of female entrepreneurs have moved into the condom industry, intent on making change.

The $8.3 billion US global business is dominated by five massive companies that produce brands like Durex, Trojan and Lifestyles. And it was drug stores shelves, packed with hyper-masculine images from some of those brands, that inspired the Canadian women behind two new companies to get into the market.

Their plan? To change how condoms are marketed and sold to make them more appealing to any gender or sexuality, normalizing the idea that anyone can buy them.

Whitney Geller and Yasemin Emory co-founded Toronto-based Jems in 2020, after being surprised on a trip to the pharmacy by what they say are the toxic stereotypes and embarrassing imagery they found on some condom packaging.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-condoms-female-company-1.6823295