What Women Buy When They Are Really Just Buying Condoms

A loofah. Deodorant. Something, anything to make the condom pack look less visible in the basket.

The Moments Sexual Health Study 2026 asked Australian women how they behave when buying condoms. 75.15% reported at least one workaround.

Almost half (48.45%) had used self-checkout. 39.08% had added unrelated items to the purchase. 27.74% had hidden condoms underneath other products.

This is not a guide to buying discreetly. It is a record of the small rituals women have already used.

The checkout is public in a way the conversation is not

Only 23.87% said they currently feel uncomfortable buying condoms. That is lower than the 31% recorded in 2021 and 29% in 2017.

Progress, then. But not a clean ending.

Current discomfort and lifetime buying habits measure different things. Someone can feel comfortable today and still have used self-checkout or buried a pack beneath groceries in the past. A workaround can also become so routine that it no longer feels like discomfort. It is simply how the purchase is made.

The condom-buying choreography is very real.

Adding an extra item costs little. Hiding a pack takes seconds. That can make these behaviours easy to dismiss.

But ordinary behaviour is often where a social rule becomes visible. If condoms were experienced like toothpaste or pain relief, would so many people feel the need to disguise the transaction?

The finding does not mean every self-checkout user felt ashamed; speed and convenience matter too. Nor does it tell us which workaround was used most recently. It does show that managing visibility is familiar to a large majority of respondents.

Privacy can help. Normalisation matters more.

Online shopping gives people space to compare options without an audience. For someone who already knows they prefer an extra-lubricated Moments Ultra Thin, ordering it online can be straightforward. For someone still working out what they like, the Moments Party Pack brings several styles together.

That convenience is useful. It should not become an excuse to leave in-store judgement untouched.

The better future is not one in which women become more skilled at hiding condoms. It is one in which there is nothing to hide.

For practical buying options, read Buying Condoms Without the Awkwardness. For the research behind this story, visit the Moments Sexual Health Study 2026.

About the study

Moments Wellness commissioned an independent research company to conduct a comprehensive nationwide survey of more than 1000 Australian women aged 18 to 45 across metro and regional Australia. The research reports women’s attitudes, and self-reported experiences and behaviour; it did not survey men and should not be read as evidence of men’s beliefs or behaviour. Percentages may not total 100 where respondents could select more than one answer.

FAQ

How many women use workarounds when buying condoms?

In the survey, 75.15% reported at least one workaround. The most commonly selected was self-checkout at 48.45%, followed by adding unrelated items at 39.08%.

Is discomfort about buying condoms falling?

The proportion reporting current discomfort was 23.87% in 2026, compared with 31% in 2021 and 29% in 2017. The survey still found widespread past or present buying workarounds.

By Christina Zafirov, Moments Editorial Team