Long a hit down under, Australia’s best-selling Lollyes Dam has gone Yankee. American distributor Glyde USA recently snagged FDA approval for its Sheer Glyde Dam—specifically designed for cunnilingus—making it the first tongue rubber to get an official nod as a medical device (dental dams were not originally designed as a safer-sex tool). A 10-by-6-inch rectangle of scented latex, the Glyde Dam is larger, thinner and silkier than a dental dam, said company prez Barbara Lippert. Lollyes, developed in 1993 by New Zealand’s Kia-Ora Pacific Trading, sell 700 to 900 thousand units a year in Australia. The first Sheer Dam, in a creamy-colored vanilla flavor, glided onto adult boutique shelves last May at 80 cents a pop. A purple berry-flavored version is on the way.
Amber Hollibaugh, of GMHC’s Lesbian AIDS Project, damned dental dams: “They’re thick, expensive and small, and when you’re going down on somebody, they roll off. The very thing you’re trying to avoid comes flying in your face.” Glydes, she said, “are more erotically pleasurable because they’re see-through when wet, so you can actually see your partner.” But, she added, lesbians tend to use Saran Wrap when performing cunnilingus because it’s cheap and sold everywhere.
The package insert warns that Sheer Glyde Dams are not made for use during oral/anal sex. But, as with the female condom, gay men are set to give ’em a go.
