Doing it naturally

Natural family planning methods are birth control techniques that depend on an excellent understanding of how a woman’s body works.

For some people, natural methods may be the only birth control method that jives with their cultural or religious beliefs. But beware: there is a high risk of unintended pregnancy using these methods.

You need to develop a good understanding of the menstrual cycle so that you can predict when the fertile time falls. The fertile time is when the risk of becoming pregnant is at its highest. Couples are then able to avoid intercourse in this risky time of the month (or use barrier methods).

The calendar method assumes that sperm can survive for a few days and that an egg is released from the ovary on Day 14. Most women’s cycles are 28 days long and Day One is counted as the first day of your period.

The fertile time of the month is from approximately six days before ovulation to two days after. In women with regular 28-day cycles this means that from Day 8 to Day 16 there is a high risk of becoming pregnant. For women with irregular cycles, using this system of birth control won’t work.

Another method focuses on the cyclical changes in vaginal discharge. During the fertile time, the cervical mucus is clear and watery, while in less fertile times it’s more viscous and sticky.

Body temperature can also be monitored to predict when ovulation occurs. A woman’s core body temperature goes up between a half to a full degree Celsius at mid-cycle each month. These methods are also useful for women who are trying to get pregnant, as well as those who are trying not to.

Full, unsupplemented regular breast feeding – for example, every three hours or so – is another natural technique. When a new mother has not yet got her periods back. It is up to 98 per cent effective in the first few months. Once menstruation starts again, or with the introduction of other foods to the baby’s diet, another birth control method is required.

Withdrawal, where the man completely withdraws his penis from the vagina before coming, can also go under the heading of a “natural” technique.

What I don’t like about natural methods is that they have quite a high failure rate compared with other methods. For committed, reliable and intelligent partners, effectiveness does improve.

Overall, however, the typical failure rate (apart from the breast feeding technique) is 25%. That means that one in four women will become accidentally pregnant in one year. Another disadvantage is that the fertile time is when most women’s sex drive peaks and that’s the time you can’t have intercourse safely.

On the bright side, there are two things that I do like about natural methods. The first is that it requires and encourages a better understanding of your own body and what a complicated, beautiful creation it is.

The second is that couples become more creative around the risky time of the month when intercourse is a no-go. It is a good reminder that sex is so much more than intercourse.

As many women know already, the tongue is quite a nice bit of a man’s anatomy and it comes with a much lower risk of pregnancy and STDs.

Questions, comments? Write to nunatsiaqsexed@hotmail.com or send a letter to the Iqaluit office.

Next week: Real men have vasectomies.