Gloves for Sex, Anyone?
Safer Sex for Lesbians and Bisexual Women
By GiGi Olorga
PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 2009

“You want to use what in my vagina?”

That, says Melody A., 23, was “the not-so-many words that came out of my mouth when (one-time girlfriend Rebecca R.) wanted for us to have sex,” she says.
The items in discussion were latex gloves – yes, the same ones used for the hand.
It was, therefore, stresses Melody A., “somewhat weird” being asked that – particularly since, as a formerly exclusively heterosexually-identifying woman, “if a man said he’d use a glove on and/or in me, I’d think he’d want to fist me or something.  How, in hell, am I supposed to know otherwise, even if it’s another woman asking?”

What Rebecca R. is actually asking is the use of safer sex practices when she and Melody A. “get it on.”

According to About.com, discussing lesbian life (lesbianlife.about.com), since “lesbians are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS, a latex glove can be used to protect yourself and your partner during oral sex.”
This doesn’t require anything complex, too.

The HOW-TO, as stated (but re-phrased) by About.com, is as follows: 1) Cut four of the five fingers of the glove, leaving the thumb in place. 2) Opposite the thumb, cut the side. 3) Wash glove to remove talcum. 4) Put water-base lubricant on the side of the thumb. 5) Place the lubricated side on the vulva of the partner to be “eaten.”  6) For the glove to stay in place, hold with both hands (on the side), or let the partner hold it, covering her labia.  7) Use your tongue to stimulate your partner. 8) For extra fun, insert tongue into the thumb, and use accordingly. 9) Dispose of glove after use. 10) Use a glove only once.

About.com, of course, stresses the need to “use only water-base lubricants,” and, if and/or when there’s allergic reaction to latex, to “purchase non-latex surgical gloves.”

The use of gloves is, of course, only one of the safer sexual methods for lesbians.
Still in About.com, Kathy Belge writes in How to Protect Yourself from STDs and HIV that “if you’re sexually active, there is no 100% protection against contracting a sexually transmitted infection.  But there are some things you can do to make your play safer."

Belge adds: "The best way to protect yourself from contracting a sexually transmitted disease is to keep your partner’s body fluids out of your body. These fluids include vaginal fluids, blood, menstrual blood, breast milk, and semen.”

Having stated these, some of the cited low risk activities include: masturbation, cybersex, erotic massage, kissing, using sex toys with condom, and, yes, cunnilingus with a barrier (such as in the above, with the latex glove).

The risky activities include unprotected cunnilingus (especially when there’s bleeding), sharing sex toys without condom, unprotected penis/vaginal/anal sex, and sharing needles.

Even in monogamous relationships, it is recommended for safer sex practices be put in practice at least six months from the beginning of the relationship – “after which both of you should be tested for STDs, such as herpes, HIV, and Hepatitis C. If you both test negative, and there are no other bacterial infections, such as Chlamydia, you and your partner may decide to have barrier-free sex. (But) remember that this presumes that you trust your partner is truly monogamous,” Belge says.

Belge adds: “Communication is the key to satisfying sex. If you don’t think you can ask for what you want, you may not be ready to have sex with that partner.”
Melody A. isn’t “as naïve – err, stupid – as I used to,” she laughs, adding that she “now knows you can even use Glad Wrap instead of latex gloves – something I didn’t know before, too.”

And so, while Melody A. isn’t with Rebecca R. anymore, “I’m more than thankful she broadened my horizon,” she says.  Then, with a loud laugh: “Now, yes, you may use this or that in my vagina.”