A selection of diaphragms from 3 manufacturers
The photo shows: This is an old photo showing three different makers’ contraceptive diaphragms. From the top, left to right are the latex Ortho All-Flex arcing spring rim, a Milex silicone wide seal available in arcing and coil spring styles, and a latex Ortho White which has a coil spring rim. The device with the clear dome and cherry rim is a Semina made of silicone in Brazil. Ortho converted the All-Flex from latex to silicone in the 4th quarter of 2008 and stopped making the Ortho White entirely at the same time. Semina is not available in the U.S. I can’t find a photo that includes the Lamberts latex Reflexions flat spring rim style with other diaphragms so I have included a photo of it further on in this entry.
Brenda’s comment: Since Brenda, a frequent reader and diaphragm wearer, posted a long comment to an earlier post I thought I’d re-post the entire comment and my reply in its own blog entry where other readers are more likely to read and comment on it. Brenda wrote:
Brenda September 27, 2012 7:24 AM
Just some girl talk and my thanks. Maybe or not some readers will find some interest. Up to you.
I really want to thank you for getting me back in touch with the importance of diaphragms to me. How many women still own every one they ever purchased? Including a rather fragile one over thirty years old. Must be important and likely harkens back to my secondary school days (always a diaphragm and usually a condom as well) and reactionary time at university after the chief lesbian on campus dumped me. I went through a period of denying my lesbian side and tried to fuck my way through the entire student body. Almost made it. So the exceptional activity, with a diaphragm in place, has inextricably linked my sex life with a diaphragm.
I now nearly always wear it to bed and have wandered out daytimes with it in place as well. On my recent trip to Africa, I went to the airport, which uses full body scanners, with it in place. As I approached security, it dawned on me that the spring would be quite visible on the scan and I found that somehow exciting. Whoever was looking had to wonder whether I was preparing to join the mile high club or I was freshly fucked. Likely gave them something to talk about all day.
Also, the new diaphragm recently had its semen baptism. It occurred to me that there was no medical reason for my wearing one but it should not denied its own experience of being flooded with an ejaculation. A medical conference provided the opportunity - as often as I would have wished. I met a very young doctor at the health club and made certain he had the chance to check everything out. We went to his room because I did not want a stranger in mine. He was young, virile and not very accomplished. Still dumped three loads against the diaphragm which I dutifully left in place until the next morning and removed to the usual aroma of putrefying semen, washed it and laid it out to dry on a towel. I wondered if the young maid even knew what it was. Years ago, that was likely a common event in hotel rooms but few younger women have even seen a diaphragm. Fortunately and unusual for me, I used a douche premix because later in the day I encountered a past lover and we decided we had better things to do than attend a dull lecture. This time in my room so that I could get the diaphragm back in. With a much more accomplished, and familiar partner, the sex was much better.
I really think that the saving grace for my new young friend was the rubbing of the G-Spot by the diaphragm rim as you have described. Though it fits me perfectly, his penis was such that he likely was pushing the dome into the anterior fornix and moving the rim slightly.
Any way, having found your blog quite by accident I have found it interesting and it has re-enabled some old behaviors that are quite enjoyable. If only some of the lurkers would join in more!
Thanks and hugs
A latex Reflexions flat spring diaphragm
Fetish uses of a flat spring diaphragm: Both Brenda and I prefer a latex flat spring diaphragm for fetish use. I’ll let her discuss why she prefers a flat spring. Returning readers may recall that I like wearing Reflexions because it is nearly impossible for a mischievous lover to under-thrust a correctly sized and properly inserted flat spring diaphragm as the rim will not flex when rammed at an oblique angle by a penis and the latex dome is far more flexible and the heat transfer properties much better than with silicone diaphragms. Too, with the soft stretchy dome even an inexperienced lover can give me a G-spot orgasm if I adjust my hips to have him thrust into my anterior fornix where he will move the rim just enough to caress my G-spot.
For my fetishist lovers I like that a latex diaphragm will develop a much stronger rubbery scent from being marinated over night in a combination of my vaginal fluids and a lover’s semen. That can be a turn-off for some users, but most of my men are rubberists and fond of the rubbery stench of well used ‘vaginal rubber’. After a quick wash and insertion of another flat spring, while the one just removed soaks in a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar to remove the odor, and I’m good to go. I do ‘double bag’ wearing an Oves screwed down tight on my cervix because some of my unprotected lovers have been known to pull out my diaphragm just after filling me with sperm. The only down-side to a latex diaphragm is that it can’t be used by woman with a latex allergy. And latex even when well cared for doesn’t last as long as a silicone device. Fortunately neither Brenda nor I are allergic to latex.
My reply to Brenda’s comment:
[Jill] Hi Brenda, I’m so glad you are back safely from Rwanda, it sounds like such a dangerous place.
[Brenda] I really want to thank you for getting me back in touch with the importance of diaphragms to me.
[Jill] I’m pleased that I’ve been able to reawaken in you the fascination and thrill I feel when protecting myself from the most common consequence of engaging in penetrative sex with men when I insert a cervical barrier. I feel more confident and alluring; I’m more sexually assertive and still feel just a bit naughty knowing I’m ready to play without additional preparation when the man I’m with thinks the moment is right, except for emptying my bowels and bladder first if possible.
[Brenda] How many women still own every one they ever purchased?
[Jill] I imagine the number is quite small. As I’ve mentioned in posts to this blog I was introduced to diaphragms (the latex Ortho All-Flex) at boarding school when I was 14, in 1985, and then switched to a Prentif which was approved by the FDA in 1988, when I was 22, in 1993, when my cervix was large enough that I could wear the 25mm. I was astonished since I had tried in my teens to be fitted and I was too small for the 22mm! Then it was a combination of the Prentif and All-Flex - until the late 90s when I tried Ortho Tri-Cyclen for three years, which dried me out and killed my libido, and I came back to cervical barriers when the Oves cap became available. It was available over-the counter at Boots in the UK, but only on-line for those of us in the U.S. When there started to be shortages of Oves in my size, the 26mm, I stocked up before the manufacturer stopped making them. So now, If I’m careful and don’t get preggers so the size of my cervix changes, I should have enough Oves caps (I can get multiple cycles from a single cap) to get me well into menopause.
[Brenda] So the exceptional activity, with a diaphragm in place, has inextricably linked my sex life with a diaphragm
[Jill] I think the fact that there is a physical barrier in place to block a partner’s sperm is one of the things I like most about diaphragms and caps. I was never really sure the pill was working, other than it made me terribly dry and want to avoid sex with men I otherwise wanted to be ravished by.
[Brenda] As I approached security, it dawned on me that the spring would be quite visible on the scan and I found that somehow exciting. Whoever was looking had to wonder whether I was preparing to join the mile high club or I was freshly fucked. Likely gave them something to talk about all day.
[Jill] After being pulled out of line twice by TSA screeners in Vegas for wearing a Milex Omniflex (because it has a deeper dome) while menstrual to show a female supervisor a blood filled diaphragm and she didn’t seem apologetic at all. I’ve tried when I can to use private aircraft where the screening is less rigorous, or wear a Diva Cup. Other than the delay (I wanted coffee before my flight) it didn’t bother me because in my profession I undress regularly for men so I went into performance mode and wasn’t shy about it at all. I just did get my coffee.
[Brenda] It occurred to me that there was no medical reason for my wearing one but it should not denied its own experience of being flooded with an ejaculation.
[Jill] I agree that every cervical barrier should be christened with highly motile sperm even if the intention is to only insert it as a confidence builder in situations where being celibate is the best policy.
[Brenda] He was young, virile and not very accomplished. Still dumped three loads against the diaphragm which I dutifully left in place until the next morning and removed to the usual aroma of putrefying semen,
[Jill] I love the enthusiasm and stamina of the young ones and if you have them for a while most of them can be trained to perform at very high levels and the training process can be such a joy! I’ve mentioned this before and I know it’s an acquired taste, but I always love the scent of a latex diaphragm after leaving it to marinate in the mixture of my vaginal secretions and a lover’s ejaculate over night. The pungent rubbery fragrance emanating from a ripe diaphragm brings back fond memories of marvelous sex from the night before.
[Brenda] I wondered if the young maid even knew what it was. Years ago, that was likely a common event in hotel rooms but few younger women have even seen a diaphragm.
[Jill] I agree! Less than 1% of women using contraception in the U.S. wear a diaphragm or FemCap and FemCap seems to be catching on because the manufacturer says it can be sized by the woman’s OB history and plays down the need for a traditional fitting, which results an a good many poorly fitting FemCaps in the U.S.
[Brenda] I really think that the saving grace for my new young friend was the rubbing of the G-Spot by the diaphragm rim as you have described. Though it fits me perfectly, his penis was such that he likely was pushing the dome into the anterior fornix and moving the rim slightly.
[Jill] I’m so pleased that you and your young admirer had that experience! Wasn’t that amazing!
[Brenda] If only some of the lurkers would join in more!
[Jill] It is fun corresponding with readers. I have a few regular readers, but most I think read me for the kinks I have that appeal to them and because I write about the life I lead which to some, if not most, I suppose might seem like a fantasy.
If you believe what my readers say about themselves they are: 54% male and 46% female, 48% are 18-34, 32% are 35-48 and 16% are over 50. 73% have no children. In that mix there are a lot of fantasists that my lifestyle might appeal to, and I appreciate every one of them!
I am flattered! And I insert my reflexions to do this response. Physically, it is completely unnoticeable, as it is during penetration, but I KNOW that it is there and that is what makes it such a joy. It serves no real purpose as I had mu tubes tied long ago and am a bit post-menopausal; it is just my little thing and does protect me from the incubus that have become more common since I began wearing it to bed a few months ago. He must find it a challenge to have become so active and has presented himself in a few different identities, some of whom I had completely forgotten.
ReplyDeleteArrayed beside me are six diaphragms, all but one latex and the one silicone saw little active service. It still looks new and could be serving me now but Jill's high opinion of the Reflexions led me to write my own prescription and spring for a few quid. I have, a few times, used the silicone but somehow do not find it quite as satisfying as having the Reflexions in me. And I do prefer the flat spring. The first two diaphragms in my lineup are coil spring Koromex. The first one was fit at 70 mm when I was barely 16 and still growing. A year later, the doctor recommended I go up a size to 75mm. The third and fourth are from the same family but with an arc spring, Koroflex, one in 75mm and the other 80mm, my size today.The second through fourth all saw particularly heavy use and were most often used with a condom as well. Jill recommends against this because of latex grab which was never a particular problem for me but did wear the domes excessively. One has a tear in it as a result of my doing a gentle stretch test many years ago and it simply ruptured from being worn thin. That diaphragm had seen me through a few gang-bangs that I had hosted at university. Sixteen in one hour for instance.
I recall the arc spring was a great advance for women at the time. Ask any women of that era and each will have a story of a coil spring diaphragm bouncing around the bathroom. They were difficult to control, smeared with vaginal jelly and squeezed in an convoluted pattern that made them want to escape. I once had mine covered in pine needles from this slippage! The arc spring and, even more so, the flat spring were introduced to reduce these problems.
Then came an Ortho All-flex and then the early silicone, the brand of which I do not know. It served its purpose well but the material is not really feminine although I loved my Diva Cup as much as the latex Keeper of the prior seven years. Each one has its own stories and my head is now popping with recollections of what each of these diaphragms represented - and went through. A few of them did function as water barriers but not pressure caps as, even when on dive trips, the sex was almost all above the waterline. I enjoy playing around at depth but I like my penis' dry on entry!
Thanks, Jill, you have some meories just for me and some that I will share over time.