What you said is stronger than being homotopic. homotopic is weaker, for instance a line is homotopic to a point, By taking the straw (even if it has thickness) and just shrinking it along its longer axis you eventually arrive at a circle. If it has thickness you will arrive at a band and then you can also retract radially to arrive at a circle.
Wouldn’t a straw be the product of a circle and a line?
What you said is stronger than being homotopic. homotopic is weaker, for instance a line is homotopic to a point, By taking the straw (even if it has thickness) and just shrinking it along its longer axis you eventually arrive at a circle. If it has thickness you will arrive at a band and then you can also retract radially to arrive at a circle.