When we learnt about the prevalence of HIV in Botswana, where approximately one in five people are living with HIV, we were inspired to see how we could support the grassroots organisations that were implementing community-led solutions. Condoms are expensive, relative to the cost of living, and clinics often lack supply, meaning many communities in Botswana do not have access to free-issue condoms, a critical component of effective HIV\/AIDS prevention. HERO is passionate about ensuring we operate from a rights-based perspective, so we really wanted to stand up for sexual and reproductive health rights for all, including the right to safe access to health services, full, inclusive sex education and health equality as a lever for reducing inequality overall \u2014 especially within communities experiencing compounding forms of disadvantage and discrimination.<\/p>\n
Even in 2022, there are persistent forms of health inequality in almost every country, with access to safe and effective interventions for\u00a0sexual and reproductive health a major gap in\u00a0achieving health equality. Many communities\u00a0lack access to condoms and sanitary products due to supply, weak local health systems, institutional, social or economic disadvantage or education. The fallout from the pandemic has only exacerbated these issues. Our 1-for-1 model means we empower the people who inspire us, and support those who need a hand by ensuring for every HERO\u00a0condom sold, one is donated to a community in need. To date, we have donated more than\u00a02.3 million condoms globally.<\/p>\n
Since expanding our partnerships into Australia, we\u2019ve worked with organisations we know have both internal practices centred around inclusion and diversity, and whose mission involves expanding equality to ensure the inclusivity of health services. For example, by partnering with Marie Stopes Australia, we are supporting approximately 40,000 people per year in Australia to have access to health and reproductive services, which are proven to impact equality indicators. The role of Marie Stopes as an accessible and culturally appropriate service provider in the Australian\u00a0landscape is critical to expanding health equality in our country, which is a key indicator of overall equality.<\/p>\n
HERO is committed to ensuring that even while we are a small team, we uplift the voices of the change-makers and organisations who represent people of all genders, sexualities and backgrounds. We approach partnerships, campaigns and strategies with the view that our job is to amplify our partners as they work to increase equality and human rights in their communities. Being an ethical, responsive partner is a major factor to this. In some situations, \u201cinclusion\u201d isn\u2019t enough \u2014 more\u00a0than just including everyone, we also need to take action to address power imbalances and\u00a0 inequalities through our actions.<\/p>\n
We are very selective about who we work with and ensure our manufacturing and supply partners utilise ethical and environmentally\u00a0friendly practices throughout their supply chain, including water treatment and recycling, and using recyclable materials\u00a0when approved and safe to use.\u00a0We are working to further develop\u00a0our earth-friendly power generation and agroforestry initiatives, especially at the\u00a0manufacturer level, to ensure we are taking whatever climate action we can. We are always\u00a0looking for ways to improve where possible\u00a0and are committed to reducing our impact on people, place and planet, alongside our\u00a0manufacturing and organisational partners.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the culture around condoms that\u2019s shifting, but also a social shift towards sex positivity. That\u2019s why we want HERO to start a new conversation about sexuality. We know from our fans, consultants and community partners that sex-positivity is creating\u00a0radical change for people of all genders and sexualities, and helping centre sexiness around consent and respectful relationships.<\/p>\n
Safe sex is inherently sexy because we know when people are empowered, comfortable and understand their sexual partner\u2019s needs and boundaries, sex is the sexiest it can be!<\/p>\n
Caring for a sexual partner is a turn-on for pretty much anyone; even in a kink-context, consent is key. Contraception is a big part\u00a0of consent and sexual boundaries and we are stoked that the conversation around sex is centring around consent. The best way\u00a0we can all destigmatise safe sex is to uplift\u00a0the voices and messages of sex-positive\u00a0 creators, activists and artists, and do our bit to promote the sexiness of consent and contraception as part of this.<\/p>\n
Sexual wellness means people are empowered by their sexuality and the ways\u00a0this impacts the other areas of their lives,\u00a0particularly around consent and identity. This\u00a0is more than just in the bedroom and it\u2019s\u00a0honestly pretty complex \u2014 including things like body positivity, understanding the\u00a0negative impact of media, popular culture\u00a0and harmful gender norms and power\u00a0structures. Sexual wellness demands a world and a society where consent is\u00a0key, and inequalities are reduced to ensure\u00a0the accessibility and appropriateness of sexual and reproductive health services and\u00a0products for each and every individual.<\/p>\n
We are excited to grow our brand, but more than this we are passionate about finding new\u00a0ways to create change, empower the people\u00a0who inspire us, and make social change an\u00a0inherent part of conscious lifestyle choices. As we build our conscious product\u00a0portfolio, we are excited to offer an option that is tailored to customers who shop based on their core values. This means that as we grow, we commit to ensuring our products remain ethically produced, sustainably sourced and vegan friendly, with a social purpose and transparent vision. We truly believe that together our community can transform lives, so we hope shoppers will use their purchasing power to support HERO and bring about positive social change.<\/p>\n
For more information, visit herocondoms.com<\/a> and @herocondoms<\/a> on Instagram.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One in four acts of vaginal intercourse involves condoms, making them\u00a0the second-most-used contraceptive method in Australia. But there\u2019s still an outdated stigma that condoms make sex less pleasurable. For-purpose condom brand HERO is shifting the conversation around safe sex by speaking to a younger generation who are embracing sexual wellness. Here, CEO David Wommelsdorff talks about health inequality, empowering a sex-positive community and giving back to communities in need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,114],"tags":[227,331,460,502,124],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1948"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1953,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions\/1953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}