In the Family Way — World Contraception Day With Sustain’s Sheila Hollender

Contraception plays an important role in helping mothers have healthy pregnancies, healthy babies and healthy families.

When girls are able to delay their first pregnancies until adulthood, time and space their pregnancies at healthy intervals, and limit the number of times they become pregnant, their health, children and families are better able to thrive.

Today is World Contraception Day and to mark the occasion, we sat down with Sheila Hollender, mother of three and co-founder of Seventh Generation (makers of “green” diapers, cleaning, and hygiene products) and now, president of Sustain Condoms. Sheila, her husband Jeffrey and daughter, Meika are funneling their passion for reducing toxins in the environment and in our bodies into creating the first “green” condom. Sheila says this idea emerged from a continuum of family conversations about health, sex, and empowerment that ultimately led to a new family-centered business.

Sheila, why did your family decide to re-create the condom?

Seventh Generation began 25 years ago as my kids were growing up and I was focused on limiting toxins in food, cleaning and baby products. Later, when we had teenagers, we started a fem-care line of environmentally friendly and sustainable tampons and pads. Later on, when our kids began using condoms, we realized there were no green condoms on the market. That’s how it started. We wanted a product that would not only protect them, but would bring the whole conversation about condoms and women to the forefront. It all sort of dovetailed into the new company.

You’ve talked about how important it is for parents to provide healthy sex education for their kids. How did that work in your family?

I hope most parents will talk to their kids about sex, but we know they won’t. From the beginning, our family had open dialogues about all kinds of topics and eventually about sex. We had a very sex-positive home and our kids felt safe talking to us about it. All of our kids came to us when they felt ready to have sex and asked us to take them to get the pill or buy condoms. We made them feel comfortable enough that they could do that instead of going elsewhere for information. It’s all about bringing kids up in a family where they feel safe talking about everything and not letting anything become taboo.

Condoms are traditionally considered a guy thing, why are you directing the conversation about condoms specifically towards women?

Because, too often girls rely on boys to bring the condoms and who knows where the condoms come from. We found out that women make 40 percent of condom purchases, but many feel uncomfortable with how condoms are marketed and with their shopping experiences. Often the media presents women carrying condoms as “sluts.” They talk about sex constantly in music, TV and movies, but no one is telling women about how they should protect themselves.

You‘re saying condoms are a woman’s thing?

I think this is a really important place where women need to step up. Fifty percent of pregnancies in North America are unintended. HIV is on the rise. Girls think that because they have birth control pills or an IUD, they’ve done their part. They’re not protecting themselves from sexually transmitted illnesses. We think it’s time for women to really own this piece of their health. We want every woman to carry a condom in her purse, be proud of it, and not ashamed. We want women to be in control of what’s going on with their bodies as well as what’s going into their bodies.

That’s what sustainable condoms are about?

Many condoms are full of toxic chemicals and no one’s talking about that. People are only now willing to discuss sustainable, non-toxic tampons and that’s a product women put in their bodies every month for 40 years. Now we’re trying to shift the conversation to condoms as something else that goes into women’s bodies. Most women aren’t of the mindset that just like lipstick, face cream and tampons, condoms are something they need to be thinking about in terms of their own health.

How does condom marketing need to change for women?

Traditional condom packaging is very male-centric. It’s not something women feel comfortable picking up. We want the product itself to be more appealing and sophisticated. Then, we’re hoping to place them in alternative retail outlets where women like to shop — not just in supermarkets and pharmacies. In fact in some stores, an alarm goes off when you raise the plexi-glass divider to get the product. We want that to change.

What’s it like for you to work with your daughter in this business?

Most people think she’s in the condominium business. She puts such positive energy around the way she markets the product in terms of empowering women and moms that it’s hard to have any negative fall out. It’s been a very positive experience.

We’re hearing more these days about women’s empowerment and feminism, issues you’ve been involved with for a long time. Why do you think it’s in the spotlight now?

I went to school in the 70s during the feminist movement. For a long time, I think people assumed women had become equal to men. Recently though, because of technology, more information is out there and younger women are realizing we really aren’t equal. In fact, we’re treated as almost second-class citizens. Women have reached the point where something has to change. Starting in 2000, women began to understand they don’t hold the same power men do and women who are in power haven’t gone high enough. Up to this point, the focus was all about women getting themselves to the top. Now it’s more about leaning down and helping other women climb up too.

Do you see that translating to maternal health?

We’re seeing a ripple effect out there as we become more educated. We’re trying to help women around the world understand that when they’re in charge of their bodies and reproductive health systems, they can create a better environment for themselves and their children. Women who have fewer kids are more apt to send them to school and get health services for them. It’s all in women’s hands if they have access to the services, education and means to plan their families.

What else do you want to say to our readers?

As a mom, you have to start your life with your children in a way that intentionally defines how you want to live. For instance, if you want to live in a sustainable world and use non-toxic products, you have to start at the beginning and stay consistent. It begins with teaching your family about product choices from lollypops to mac n’cheese to make up and hygiene products. Then, it becomes a lifestyle, not a fad and it extends all the way through contraception.

We think that sharing our birth stories is essential for raising awareness. How were your birth experiences?

Mine? Other than beautiful and blessed? They were easy. All three were vaginal births. The first two happened in an operating room in a New York Hospital. That’s the way my doctor did things. The last one was born in a birthing room in a hospital in Vermont. My first labor was fast and not very painful, which is very uncommon for a first time mother. My second was my son and he took a little while to get himself out. My third just came out by herself. I couldn’t believe how easy she was. Maybe that’s because the first two were born in operating rooms and the third was born in a flannel, Laura Ashley birthing room — very different environments.

Thank you Sheila for a very insightful conversation.