I watched a lot of cartoons as a kid, and some of the older cartoons make references to "rubbers." I always thought they meant rubber galoshes, so when a cousin finally explained that men wore rubbers during sex, I couldn't help but wonder what use galoshes were.

Cyan

when i was younger i found a condom and came to the comnclusion that it was used as a raincoat by caterpillars.

kimberly vickers, uk

I remember in 3rd grade a boy brought a condom to school and was caught by the teacher. I asked my friend later, "what is a condom?" He told me and a group of people it was a small building. :|

Alicia

This isn't my moment, but my mother's-

My mom's club was planning on providing a BBQ, and everyone was assigned what to bring. Well, in the middle of it all, my mom said "I'll bring the condoms!" when she really meant condoments. The boys hooted and laughed, I still don't think she lived that one down. lol

Anon

my neighbor and i were playing barbie dolls at her house. i only had a couple, and only one ken, so we always played with her ken dolls. my barbie and her barbie were talking because they were about to go out on "dates" with some foxy kens, and her doll asked me if i had "taken my condoms yet". i had no idea what she was talking about, so she told me that condoms were pills you had to take before you went on dates. i really didnt think much of this...

Kate

When I was younger I was watching the first Austin Powers and I asked my mom what a condom was. She told me it was a balloon that a man puts on his tool to keep the woman from getting pregnant. Little did I know this "balloon" wasn't supposed to be inflated. Wow was that naive. For years I wondered how a man fit his tool in a woman with a big balloon on it.

Anon

I used to masturbate when I was real young (I guess I didn't really know what it was, something to do with sex, and it felt good) and when I first learned about AIDS and HIV, and that you could catch it without using condoms I freaked, thinking that *I* might have AIDS cos I had "sex" or whatever and didn't use protection! Now of course I know all about it... I think....

Safe Sex

When I was in grade six, I knew a little bit about puberty and sex and all that other stuff (my mom had told me "where babies came from" when I was only four years old, and she'd bought me a book about puberty when I was ten), but I still wasn't exactly sure what condoms were, or what they were for. So one day, at school, I asked my friend Lisa what a condom was, and she said "The man puts it over his dinky before sex so the woman doesn't get pregnant." Then she proceeded to scuplt one out of plasticene for my edification, by making a plasticene "log" and sticking her finger in it to make it hollow. So, for a while, I believed that condoms were either hard plastic devices that the man stuck his thing into, or sort of like a rubber "sock" for the man's thing. I was shocked when I first saw one in a package, lol.

Emily from Bishop's

when i was about eight my brother showed me a condom and he blew it up. so ofcourse i thought it was a balloon
and when he gave it to me i took it into my dad and said look a balloon.
He was so embarresed when he had to explain to me what it was. I really hated my brother after that.

Kerrys

When I was about or 7 I overheard my mom, who works in a medical office, talking about the free flavored condoms they had recieved at work. One day, while at her office, I saw the condoms and thought they looked an awful lot like gum. I believed that a boy and girl would each chew on one while having sex. That was until I was 10 and was taught how they were reall used in sex education. Boy did I feel stupid.

lori