Moments Wellness Sexual Health Research Study: What Australian Women Told Us

The Moments Sexual Health Study 2026 is here, bringing you an unfiltered look at what Australian women really think about condoms, preparedness and the judgement that still follows.

We 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 objective was simple: to understand what happens between believing protection is a shared responsibility and actually having a condom when it is needed. We asked about buying habits, attitudes towards having a condom and the assumptions women have around preparedness.  

They did not give us a tidy answer.

Women can feel comfortable discussing condoms with a partner and still feel watched at the checkout. They can believe responsibility should be equal and still find themselves relying on someone else to have one. They can recognise condoms as contraception while remaining unclear about the separate job of STI protection.

That contradiction is the story.

The study findings

63.76% said women are judged more harshly than men for carrying condoms. Only 2.07% said men are judged more harshly.

When imagining the same condom in a woman’s bag and a man’s wallet, 38.63% of  respondents were more likely to describe her as someone who “sleeps around” and more likely to describe him as “prepared” (43.86% vs 29.27%) or “responsible” (39.71% vs 26.12%).

75.15% reported at least one workaround when buying condoms, including using self-checkout, adding unrelated items or hiding the pack underneath other products.

39.80% said embarrassment or fear of judgement had caused them to abandon or avoid a condom purchase at least once.

26.21% selected the contraceptive pill incorrectly when asked which listed method protects against both pregnancy and STIs. The contraceptive pill does not protect against STIs.

66.55% had gone without a condom because neither person had one; 48.09% said this had happened more than once.

46.47% said both people should be responsible for bringing condoms, but only 21.16% said both supplied them on their most recent occasion.

Some of these results are confronting. Others are almost mundane: an extra item dropped into a basket, an assumption that a partner will take care of it, a purchase left for another day. That is exactly why they matter. Behaviour does not always change with a dramatic decision. Sometimes it changes in a small moment of friction.

What we will explore

Across this series, we look at five questions raised by the research:

1. Why is the same condom read differently depending on whose bag (or wallet) it is in?

2. What do buying workarounds tell us about public judgement?

3. What happens when discomfort gets in the way of safer choices?

4. Why are pregnancy prevention and STI protection still being confused?

5. Why shared responsibility doesn't always mean shared preparedness?

Choice should feel ordinary

Preparedness is not a personality type, and it should not require one preferred kind of condom. Some people want the variety of the Moments Party Pack to explore what works for them. Others prefer Mega Thin 0.03 for it’s barely-there feeling, and anyone who has tried Super Studded knows the raised studs add new level of heightened sensation. The point is not which one sits in a bag, drawer or wallet. It is that choosing and carrying one should be unremarkable.

About the study

We 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.