D.C. pushes female condoms to fight HIV epidemic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Charlene Cotton will talk to anyone about sex.

Several days a week she stands behind a table decorated with a bowl of flavored condoms and safer-sex pamphlets, calling to women passing on the street, "Come check out my table. Don't be scared."

She asks: "Have you heard of the female condom?" Then, to show how it works, she picks up her demonstration kit — a condom and anatomical models.

It's a seemingly awkward conversation to have on a city street, but Cotton isn't embarrassed. She's part of a citywide effort to promote female condoms in the hope they can help stop the spread of HIV in Washington, which has one of the highest infection rates in the country.

Community groups are handing out 500,000 of the female condoms, flexible pouches that are wider than a male condom but similar in length, during instruction sessions at beauty salons, barber shops, churches and restaurants.

CVS is selling them in all its District of Columbia drugstores — though sales so far are slow — making Washington the only place where people can get them outside a health clinic or community group.