WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Pleasure brand Share Satisfaction has teamed with feminist consultancy Project Gender to distribute "Ettie Kits" for at-home STI testing.
A rep said the goal of the collaboration is “to empower and encourage STI testing for all genders and ages with rapid at-home testing.”
The Ettie Kit, named after New Zealand sexual health pioneer Ettie Rout, was developed by Project Gender's Erin Jackson, Angela Meyer and Tania Dobson and offers multiple tests in one box without the need to wait on lab results.
Conceived in collaboration with Share Satisfaction founder Taslim Parsons, the Ettie Kit "Ultimate Box" includes four tests, 12 condoms and water-based lube. The cost for those extras, which promote sexual health, will not be passed on to the consumer, noted Parsons.
“The price is not changing, all we are doing is adding value,” she said.
The kits will be available through sexual wellness retailers, as well as through pharmacies and other retail outlets.
Parsons explained, “Some places do sell STI tests, but the Ettie Kits have such a distinctive point of difference, everything about it is user-friendly. In a post-COVID world, at-home rapid health tests have become an essential in many households' first aid kits — so why can’t a sexual health test be the same?”
Jackson added, “This is about sexual empowerment and owning your sexuality. There are barriers that we don’t see all the time in different layers of society, and we — Ettie Kits and Share Satisfaction — want to break down those barriers holding people back. There is so much stigma we need to break down and that’s why the partnership with Share Satisfaction is so exciting, because what we’re trying to do is normalize conversations around health and pleasure.”
For more information, visit ShareSatisfaction.com.
