[identity profile] heledd-theo.livejournal.com
Yesterday my friend and I were talking and she told me that for the last six years she and her boyfriend have been using the withdrawl method as their only form of contraception.  She has never been pregnant or even had a pregnancy scare.  I really can't believe that that they've got away with it for this long!  Do you think maybe one or other of them just isn't very fertile?  She says her sister did the exact same thing for years with her husband and when they decided they actually wanted to have a baby she got pregnant pretty fast. 
Personally there's no way I'd trust this as my only form of contraception.
[identity profile] rockstarbob.livejournal.com
Hello, fellow superstars!

The maintainer team has noticed an increase in posts lately asking about the reliability of the withdrawal/"pull-out" method of birth control. We became concerned about some of the misinformation and misconceptions we've been seeing and thought we'd make a general post to clarify.

What exactly is the withdrawal method? According to Planned Parenthood, it works like this: "The man withdraws his penis from the vagina before or when he feels he has reached ejaculatory inevitability—the point when ejaculation can no longer be stopped or postponed. He ejaculates outside the vagina, being careful that semen does not spill onto his partner's vulva."

Many people--including sex educators, despite good intentions--have a negative view of the withdrawal method and spend a lot of time promoting misinformation about its unreliability as a birth control option. The truth is, the withdrawal method is 96% effective with perfect use and 73% effective with typical use, according to Contraceptive Technology.

While those numbers might not present a risk level that is ideal or acceptable for everyone, that certainly does not rule withdrawal out entirely as a viable contraceptive method for anyone ever--and it sure beats using no method at all (which has a failure rate of 85%, by the way)! We agree with this doctor: There is a place for withdrawal in discussions of contraceptive options, though it is not the method for everyone. To deny this would be to keep potentially valuable information from our members, which goes against VP's goals.

There are plenty of valid reasons why couples choose (not) to use withdrawal as their (only) method of birth control (you can read some pros and cons here). Because it depends on the male partner's self-control and his ability to know when he has reached ejaculatory inevitability, withdrawal is best suited for sexually experienced couples.

In other words, it probably isn't a good contraceptive choice with a temporary hook-up/one-night stand, someone you don't trust/know well, a partner who has not been recently tested for STIs, a sexually inexperienced partner, a partner who does not have experience with the method, or a partner who has not urinated between ejaculations to flush out his urethra (more about this in the next paragraph). That said, many people find they can alleviate the concerns above by combining the withdrawal method with other methods (such as condoms) for added protection/assurance.

Concerns about the reliability of the withdrawal method are often linked with misunderstandings about whether or not pre-ejaculatory fluid ("pre-cum") contains viable sperm. We know from various reputable scientific studies (see here and here for starters) that "Preejaculatory fluid secreted at the tip of the urethra from Cowper's gland during sexual stimulation did not contain sperm and therefore cannot be responsible for pregnancies during coitus interruptus."

The key here is that that "pre-cum" is produced in the Cowper's gland while semen comes from the testicles. Secretions from the Cowper's gland do not contain sperm and therefore cannot cause pregnancy. Nevetheless, the possibility remains that small amounts of sperm may be present in a male's pre-ejaculatory fluid due to sperm lingering in the urethra from a previous ejaculation. This can usually be remedied by making sure the male partner has urinated between ejaculations.

Our purpose here isn't to promote withdrawal above other forms of contraception or to endorse it as a method that's appropriate for everybody. Rather, we want to make sure members receive accurate information about this and other methods so they can make informed decisions about what works best in their own lives.

That's it in a nutshell (pun intended)! If you'd like to read more about this or other methods of birth control, take VP's Vulvapedia for a spin.

--Bob
For the VP Team
[livejournal.com profile] contact_vp
[identity profile] tool007.livejournal.com
Hi. I recently found this community during some browsing and since it pretty much relates to what I want to be enlightened on, I decided to join.

So, this is it:

Aprox. one week ago, my girlfriend and I were on my bed, "playing" (read: masturbating) with each other. At some point, she said she was ready for her first time, so I put on TWO condom and we did it. Since it was pretty dark, she had to take my penis into her vagina. Didn't last very long. Not because I came, but due to her having quite some pain and wanting to stop. So, I didn't ejaculate inside her (even if some pre-cum was laying around the condom, I suppose it didn't get out since the base is very tough, as if squeezing the penis and it had yet another base (for the second condom) after the first one; plus, I only went in and out four or five times).
Now, two days ago she told me she hadn't realized it at the moment, but before we did it, she had a bit of pre-cum on her hand and was unsure about wheter or not it dried while she was undressing (by touching her clothes and so)... We thought it might be dangerous, since her hand had to touch the vagina during intercourse.

What do you think?

Also, after that, actually, 3 days ago, we had sex again. It all went well. I used two condoms in the first day (I was kind of scared) and one in the second. During the first day (I didn't cum inside her, I was a little shy...), when I used two condoms, I noticed some pre-cum was laying around the condom. Same thing happened the next day, where I started using only one.
I thought it was normal, seeing I followed the panflet which comes with the condoms and teaches how to put one on. However, since, with the thrusts, the condom moves, I started to feel frightened due to the pre-cum moving around and near the base of the condom. Again, I know there is quite some pressure applied by the base and also, I didn't see anything come out (I'm talking about a small amount of pre-cum), but, even so, we decided she would take the Next Morning Pill. So, these two times we had sex were on a Saturday night and a Sunday afternoon. She took the Morning Pill at around 12A.M. on Monday, just before lunchtime. I guess this solves mine and her fears on having seen the pre-cum laying around on the condoms I wore, even without ejaculating inside her.

However, what about the week before, when we had our first time? If pre-cum was laying around on the condom this weekend, it must have been so as well the other week when we started having sex.

This, together with the first referred and described event kind of scares me... ok, a lot. Even more since she is very irregular (and from August to December 2006, her period skipped) and if it were regular, her period should have appeared the Friday before we had sex for the second time - and didn't. This frightens me even more. There is no way for now to tell wheter or not she is indeed pregnant, is there?

This situation is really heavy for both of us, seeing we're only teenagers (both 17)...

Can anyone give their opinion on this matter? I'm pretty sure she would not get pregnant from the intercourse this weekend, since, even if there was something wrong with the condoms, she took the Next Morning Pill a day and a half after the first encounter. What worries me is what happened on our first time.

Thank you for reading all of this. I hope you can leave a word or two on the subject...

First TIme

Sep. 6th, 2006 03:43 pm
[identity profile] ukboy22.livejournal.com
Hi,

I am a rather inexperienced 22 year old who is feeling very nervous.

I was with a girl I met the other night, we were just playing around - kissing mainly.

She took her pants off and asked me to make love but i declined as had no protection. We continuedto kiss at this point she had removed her pants and I continued to wear my briefs.

I did not penetrate her at all and did not ejaculate. I have read (probably too much) in the last few days about being able to become pregnant without ejaculation or penetration - because of precum.

I am 100% sure I didnt ejaculate and in the past I have always precum just before full ejaculation - 5-10 secs. I am around 80% sure no precum at all was present but am worried that it may have been and somehow have got through my briefs and on to her when she sat on top of me. When I checked when i left the room my pants were completley dry but I am worried.

I asked the girl about it and she laughed saying i had nothing to worry about. I was going to buy her the emergency pill but she said i was talking non sense since 'nothing happened'. I am going on vacation and am worried sick by it all. I don't know how to bring it up with her again since i only met her that night and think she was 'suprised' that i didnt want to go further.

I am completley distressed by it al in the circumstances described I know it may be theoretically posible but how likley could it be? I am sure if the research is right it is likley hat had any precum been present it will not have been carrying any sperm as i had urinated at last 4-5 times since.

Help I am so worried - I know I am a lad and hope that wont put you off helping me.

Precum

Jul. 26th, 2006 01:27 pm
[identity profile] beachgurl122.livejournal.com
I was just curious what you all thought about the likliness of precum getting a woman pregnant... My boyfriend and I used it many times in the past and I never had a scare ( dumb I know ) but I really dont think the amount of precum could do it, I really beleive you need the full ejaculate... Does anyone know of anyone getting pregnant from precum ONLY?? This interests me ( I know I'm weird, lol )
[identity profile] -willendorf-.livejournal.com
I feel like I'm always arguing with people about this point. I get comments like "no penetration, no pregnancy, period!" and that's simply not true. While the chances of pregnancy without penetration are small, it is possible and it does happen. Anytime you get ejaculate or pre-ejaculate on your vuvla, or on any object touching your vuvla, it is possible to become pregnant, even if there's no penetration.

Here are some quick google links, but when I get some more scholarly resources, I'll put those up as well. If you have any better resources, please list them.

It's so irresponsible to tell a women that she can roll around in sperm and be 100% safe so long as she wasn't penetrated. It kills me when I see people giving this advice. It's just not true.

The chance is small, but not non-existent.

http://www.teenwire.com/index.asp?taStrona=http://www.teenwire.com/ask/articles/as_20010801p254.asp

http://www.teenhealthfx.com/answers/Sexuality/1008.html

http://www.canfp.org/artman/publish/article_63.shtml

http://www.teenadviceonline.org/archive/43721.html

http://health.ivillage.com/sexualhealth/sxsafe/0,,1f6,00.html

http://www.estronaut.com/a/pregnant_no_intercourse.htm
[identity profile] lostboy-tootles.livejournal.com
This is technically about male bodies, but I didn't really know of anyone else to ask. So when my guy and I had sex, he waited until he's close before putting on a condom (on the rare occasion he didn't get off he never put one on). He claims that he can feel when he pre-cums, and that he doesn't do so before he puts the condom on. To me, that sounds like he's just talking tough, probably to convince himself that there was no risk once he found out that I could potentially get pregnant from pre-cum. But I dunno. So my question is this. How likely is it that he really can tell? And when does a guy pre-cum? Is it just when he gets close, or earlier too? I don't really know much about the male body's functions, much less what he can feel or not, so I was just wondering. Thanks for your help!

Help?

Mar. 31st, 2005 02:56 pm
[identity profile] https://users.livejournal.com/-------maps/
I'm new here. I have a few questions. [I've also posted this entry in a few other communities. Sorry. I'm freaking out.]

First off, I'd like to state that I'm still a virgin. I don't know if that is going to help you guys much while answering these questions, but, oh well and whatever.

1. Can you get pregnant from a guy pre-cumming [or whatever..sorry, I'm really new with all of this stuff. My current boyfriend is the only boy I've been "sexually active" with.] and having it touch your vaginal area and then him fingering you? This happened to me yesterday. I'm still a virgin, as I've said. I've heard that you can get pregnant from this happening, and also, that you can't. So in other words, I'm really confused and I hope you all wouldn't mind helping me out here. I'm freaking out over if I'm pregnant or not. I know I can just wait to see if my period starts or not, since it should be starting in a few days, but I'm seriously freaking out. Which is why I'm still a virgin, I'm not ready for sex yet and I'm not ready to be a parent, I'm only 16. Also, what are some early signs of pregnancy?... =/
2. Sometimes, after my boyfriend fingers me, it hurts really bad when I go to the bathroom. And sometimes, even if I'm just sitting it will hurt. But then it goes away within 24 hours or so. There's no blood, just pain. Why does this happen?

Thanks. Sorry if those are really stupid questions, but I'm not kidding when I say I'm new with all of this stuff...

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