My last cartoon is about what to do if you fall in love with someone at work. (They can be beneath you in company hierarchy.)

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Things made of rubber (or called rubbers) are inherently funny, so I was excited when I got a project a few years ago to do cartoons about condoms. I think it was for National Lampoon or MAD Magazine, but since they don’t use cartoons by women cartoonists 99.99% of the time, nothing came of it.

Except I made some great cartoons that I sold to some men’s magazines that made me LOL, still make me laugh. This is one of them.

Although condoms in situ can be funny, my goodness, they lead to awkward situations — and conversations. Their protection is for both parties, of course, and is really a necessity in any uncommitted relationship, but it’s difficult to ask a man to do something that is less pleasurable for him, when you’d rather think about romance and pleasure.

Until I read this article in the Atlantic (warning: unnecessary vulgarities) I didn’t know/remember that Bill Gates offered $100,000 to anyone who could build a better prophylactic.

His foundation will give a $100,000 grant to anyone with credible plans to make a condom that “is felt to enhance pleasure.”

And here’s something to encourage stupid behavior:

Sex researcher Dr. Rachel Jones at the Guttmacher Institute recently published a study in the journal Contraception that found that the “withdrawal method of birth control is nearly as effective as condoms in preventing pregnancy.” By the study’s measures, “pulling out” had a failure rate of four percent, while condoms had a failure rate of two percent.

A Voice for Men wanted to make sure men weren’t forgotten about in the issue of condoms. He writes that the question of why more men don’t wear condoms is only “skin deep.” and comes from a gynocentric culture. It’s a little difficult for me to grasp some of his points, since I’m reading it from a gynocentric point of view, but I believe he is saying that it’s not just that condoms reduce the physical pleasure.

Because men identify so fully with their penis, he writes, covering it with a condom “actively takes part in reducing their own self-esteem.” He adds:

I ask you to step away now, because hate-speech is not welcome here. Men’s lives matter. Men’s feelings (and yes, we do have them) matter. We matter.

I would just like to say, sir, that I’m laughing at the cartoon. Not your penis. Thank you.

Next: The most Popular and the most Unpopular cartoons of the year! All will be revealed.