‘On our measuring tape you get the measurement in millimetres and a few recommendations for condom types that are suitable,’ says Eddie Sandstrom, a male nurse in Stockholm. Photograph: Alamy

Agence France-Presse in Stockholm

A Stockholm youth health clinic is handing out special measuring tapes to young men and asking them to size up their penises. The clinic, which caters to youths up to the age of 23, said on Monday the initiative was aimed at turning around declining condom use in Sweden and making sure young men buy the right size to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. The specially designed tape, which measures circumference and not length, will be handed out free of charge at the clinic from Tuesday.“A common reason for a condom slipping off or breaking during sex is that you’ve bought the wrong size,’’ a male nurse at the clinic, Eddie Sandstrom, said in a podcast on its website. “You have to measure the circumference of the penis when erect, not the length. On our measuring tape you get the measurement in millimetres and a few recommendations for condom types that are suitable.” Sandstrom said that other awareness campaigns had not succeeded in getting more Swedes to use condoms.

He hoped the initiative would be a hit: on Monday five young men had already stopped in to ask for a measuring tape, a day before the product was launched.