How effective is the pullout, really?

[jaggednib.livejournal.com]

 My boyfriend and I were having a discussion about the pullout method.  While I, personally, would never use the pullout method, my boyfriend told me that he thinks its an ignorant form of birth control.
My argument is that for consenting couples who make the informed decision to use the pullout method, all the power to them.
My boyfriend on the other hand thinks that "ignorant behaviour like that is the reason for so many unwanted pregnancies and STI's." 

I was always taught that the pullout method was NOT a viable form of birth control and that it was stupid to even try to tempt fate by using it. 
My boyfriend says that using this method is comparable to still believing that the world is flat. I told him that I'm pretty sure it's the other way around and that his outdated thinking is actually like saying the world is flat.

Since I've started reading this site, I've never heard of so many people using the pullout method before. Now I'm curious, are there are scientific facts/stats that you could link me to stating that what I've been taught in my earlier life might actually be wrong? 
I would love to have something to show my boyfriend that it's not as "dumb" as he thinks it is. 
I would even appreciate any anecdotes about people who have used only the pullout for X amount of months/years and never even had a pregnancy scare. 

Also, when does one actually pullout? Just before ejaculation? A while before ejaculation to prevent the precum from impregnating the woman?
I don't mean to offend anyone with these questions, I'm just curious where I could get more information because my boyfriend is quite adamant that this is the single most ridiculous method of birth control he's ever heard of and I'm not so sure I agree. 

Comments

[tokio.livejournal.com]

Personally, I can't find any scientific data to back up the idea that precum contains enough sperm to get a person pregnant. Everything I've found leads me to believe that conditions would absolutely have to be PERFECT. I tend to word things very absolutely -- it's highly unlikely to be impregnated by precum, but it can happen. It's just very rare..

I also think a lot of people confuse pre-seminal fluid with ejaculate. Men don't always ejaculate in one, long squirt (I wish I could find a better word for that, haha). Sometimes it can happen throughout the penetration with short bursts of ejaculation -- many people don't realize this is possible because it isn't commonly taught that ejaculation and orgasm can be mutually exclusive.

[tokio.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. It's possible, but rare. Sperm "leakage," which is generally what I mean when I say short bursts of ejaculate, before orgasm is also common. I'm not sure which would be more likely to knock the other one out of the picture, though. It's entirely possible it could have been both!

[tokio.livejournal.com]

Oh, there we go! I was wondering if I had missed something.