Keeping condoms in your wallet can be tricky; sure, you’ve got protection on the go, but do you really want that telltale ring to show every time you whip out your credit card? Annex Products, the company that brought you the Opena iPhone case with a built-in bottle opener, has a solution: the Playa Case.

In addition to protecting your iPhone 4/4S, the Playa Case helps you stay protected. It has a discreet sliding storage compartment that can fit two condoms–and no one will know they’re there.

The ultra slim polycarbonate Playa Case won’t be for sale until this summer, but you can sign up here to be notified when it’s available. It will retail for $29.95 and will come in black, white and pink (ladies can be “playas,” too!).

Dirty Little SKYN Cosmetics Bags ($25)

You’re about to get lucky: Are you covered? The approach of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 serves as a reminder that carrying–and, of course, using–condoms can be a life saving decision. Fashion designer Maggie Kervick and LifeStyles condoms want to show you that being protected can be fashionable, too.

Kervick and LifeStyles have teamed up for a line of  vinyl bags made to look like SKYN condom wrappers, part of the “I’m Covered Campaign.” One dollar from each purchase will benefit Answer, a national sex education organization associated with Rutgers University.

“I’m hoping to break down the stereotype that if a guy has a condom he is considered ‘prepared,’ but if a girl has a condom she is considered a ‘tramp,’” says Kervick. “The bag is a great conversational piece that will relay a message to onlookers about the woman carrying the bag–how she is confident, responsible, and protected.  The ‘I’m Covered Campaign’ reinforces the need for self-respect and a proactive approach in regards to protecting oneself from STIs and unwanted pregnancies.”

The bags come in three styles, the Living in SKYN Tote ($55), the Dirty Little SKYN Cosmetics Bags ($25) and the I’m a Slave for SKYN Wristlet ($20). Bonus: Get a free pack of LifeStyles condoms and information on how to use them with each purchase!

To learn more or to buy a bag, go to bagsbymags.com.

Living in SKYN Tote ($55)

I'm a Slave for SKYN Wristlet ($20)

Dear EarthTalk: Global population numbers continue to rise, as does the poverty, suffering and environmental degradation that goes with it. Has the U.S., under Obama, increased or at least restored its family planning aid to developing countries that was cut when the Bush Administration first took office?         -- T. Healy, via e-mail

The Obama administration's reinstatement of funding to the United Nations Population Fund helps the agency's efforts around the world to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. (Flickr)

The short answer is yes. President Obama is much more interested in family planning around the world than his predecessor ever was. One of Obama’s first acts upon assuming office in 2009 was the restoration of funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). George W. Bush had withheld some $244 million in aid to the UNFPA over the previous seven years. UNFPA works with developing countries around the world to “reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.”

Reinstated U.S. funding will help the agency pursue its goals of universal access to reproductive health services, universal primary education and closing of the gender gap in education, reducing maternal and infant mortality, increasing life expectancy and decreasing HIV infection rates.

Along with restoring UNFPA funding, Obama also overturned the so-called “Global Gag Rule” that prohibited groups funded by the U.S. Agency in International Development (USAID) from using any government or non-government funds for “providing advice, counseling or information regarding abortion, or lobbying a foreign government to legalize or make abortion available.” Foreign nonprofits were already not allowed to use U.S. funds to pay for abortions, but the Global Gag Rule—first instituted as the ‘Mexico City Policy’ in 1984 by the Reagan White House, then overturned by Clinton and later reinstated by George W. Bush—went further by restricting the free speech rights of government grantees and stifling public debate on the contentious topic. Foreign NGOs that accept U.S. funding still cannot perform abortions, but can discuss the options openly with the families they serve.

“For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us,” said Barack Obama upon overturning the policy as one of his first acts in office. “It is time that we end the politicization of this issue.”

Of course, advocates for increased family planning are pressuring the Obama administration to step up its efforts aboard even more. The Institute of Medicine, one of four government-affiliated nonprofit “academies” of experts, recommended last spring that the U.S. increase its spending on global health by some 50 percent over the $63 billion pledged by the Obama White House over the next six years.

Groups providing family planning services domestically would also like to see the Obama administration step up funding for their programs, not only to improve the quality of life for American families but to save money and reduce abortions as well: A 2009 report by the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute concluded that publicly funded family planning services at both hospitals and non-profit clinics saves taxpayers $4 for every $1 spent by preventing nearly two million pregnancies and 810,000 abortions per year.

CONTACTS: UNFPA, www.unfpa.org; USAID, www.usaid.gov; Institute of Medicine, www.iom.edu; Guttmacher Institute, www.guttmacher.org.

A recent study conducted by Indiana University discovered that young American teenagers use condoms more frequently than any other age group in the country.

The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, which was published on Oct. 1 in “The Journal of Sexual Medicine,” evaluated the sexual experiences and condom use of 5,865 American men and women between the ages of 14 and 94.

When asked how often condoms were used during the last 10 times they had vaginal intercourse, males aged 14 to 17  reported using them 79.1 percent of the time, with females in that age group reporting that they were used 58.1 percent of the time. As the subjects’ ages increased, their usage of condoms consistently decreased, with subjects 61 and older using them less than 8 percent of the time.

Images courtesy of Indiana University

The study also concluded that condoms are used in 1 in 4 acts of vaginal intercourse, and are used twice as often during “casual” sex than during sex between partners in a relationship. It also found that black and Hispanic Americans use condoms more often than any other racial groups.

“These data, when compared to other studies in the recent past, suggest that although condom use has increased among some groups, efforts to promote the use of condoms to sexually active individuals should remain a public health priority,” said Michael Reece, director of Indiana University’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

“ooo” boutique wants you to do it with style — literally. The Los Angeles-based company has launched FDA-approved condoms with stylish, tongue-in-cheek packaging that will make you the most fashionable sexpot in town.

Three different types of condoms — ultra thins dubbed feel me, “pleasure-shaped” rubbers called rock me, and flavored condoms called savor me — are available in six varieties of packaging. Photographs of an elevator, a pile of hay, and other places to get it on are featured on the take me packaging; Kung Fu Sutra features naughty pen-and-ink art; work from up-and-coming artists is featured on art of lust; and the try me set will give you ideas when you’re bored with yawn-inducing missionary. Less exciting but equally as fashionable are the handy tryst boxes, which are complete with lusty words of longing, and the passion packs, which look like chic, romantic goody bags complete with silver ribbons.

Adam Glickman, president and CEO of Condomania, an “ooo” boutique partner, said that these condoms “underscore safer sex, while never taking an eye off the importance of having fun. They make a bold, stylish statement…and should be a part of every young person’s wardrobe.”

Retail prices for “ooo” boutique condoms range from $1.99 for singles to $24.95 for gift sets. For more information, visit www.oooboutique.com.

If you thought you were satisfied with your sex life, you were wrong.‚  A new survey found that Boston ranks 10th out of 10 major US cities in sexual satisfaction. But it’s not all bad news.

Trojan’s States of Pleasure Survey found that when it comes to getting it on, Boston ranks ahead of Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

So what’s the problem? It seems we prefer quantity over quality. Trojan is attempting to raise the pleasure factor with Trojan Ecstasy,‚  a new condom that will up the‚  “sexual pleasure and satisfaction quotient” in America.

The survey also found that‚  over half of all men and women wish they were having MORE sex and a whopping 71 percent of Americans are looking to increase their satisfaction.

To end on a not-so-happy note, one in three Americans are dissatisfied with their sex lives. So next time your significant other praises your – ahem – talents, blow him or her away with that stat and cross your fingers…or get a FREE Trojan Ecstasy condom here.