Choosing a type of condom is not an easy task anymore. No matter what you want, condom manufacturers are sure to be able to satisfy your needs with styles like ribbed, studded, lubricated and specifically designed condoms for the pleasure of a woman.

Sophomore psychology major Jennifer Benyo thinks all the new types are great, especially the condoms devoted to pleasuring women.

“The added sensation from the ‘her pleasure’ condoms makes sex with a condom more pleasurable,” she said.

You can find numerous brands of condoms that are thin. Durex Avanti is a thin condom made available by request only from NIU Health Enhancement Services. According to Spicygear.com, when using such thin condoms, there is a lack of lubrication, and the condom will not be effective and possibly break. So, when using a condom that states how thin it is, make sure you use a lubrication to prevent any accident from happening.

“I have used the Kimono and so have many of my friends, and we all have found that because they are so thin, they don’t ever do their job. They break,” said an English major who wished to remain anonymous.

On campus, you can find a variety of styles. NIU Health Enhancement Services has all kinds of protection available for anyone to pick up.

In fact, Health Enhancement Services orders 100,000 Durex, MAXX, Avanti and Kimono condoms every year, all of which are available to the student body free of charge. It also orders 300 Reality brand female condoms and 15,000-20,000 tubes of lubrication. Glyde Dams, which are special latex sheets used to protect an individual during oral sex, are also available. Health Enhancement Services is looking into comparing inventory between the spring and fall semesters to see when students need protection more often, according to Health Enhancement Coordinator Sandra Belman.

Belman said Health Enhancement Services doesn’t order condoms with special spermicide because of studies that found them to be more harmful than preventive.

Students living in the residence halls also can get protection from community advisers.

“I make sure to have my basket filled every week making the condoms available to students on my floor,” Stevenson CA Colleen Kaye said.

The CAs get a bag full of 100 condoms and 10 lubricants from the Resource Center. Along with the bag, they receive information on the types of condoms, lubricants and STDs.

Because Spring Break is around the corner, NIU Health Enhancement Services is promoting safer sex by giving out a bag of 11 condoms and one lubricant.

Belman said the condoms will be 11 different types of Lifestyles, which are not typical among the free condoms offered around campus.

“We want [students] to reduce their risks, so we want to give them something they will use instead of something they might not,” Belman said, referring to the new Lifestyle condoms.

The bags will be handed out to whoever wants them at University Health Services, the Student Recreation Center, all residence halls and the Holmes Student Center.

With all these choices for protection, there will be something for everyone.