Ever feel like there’s a mass market for wrong information about pregnancy and pregnancy risks? Do you leave a conversation with a friend or reading an article or website and wonder if what you’ve learned is the truth or one of those nasty myths? Just about any subject you’d hear about has them … and pregnancy and pregnancy risks are no different. Now Scarleteen’s taking the time to debunk some of the most common misconceptions.
We believe that all sex should be something anyone chooses for themselves, based on sound, realistic information. In order to do this, it is vitally important to be able to distinguish between the facts and the myths about what is safe. Do you know the facts about pregnancy and pregnancy risks, or have you fallen for some myths?
FACT: While it’s true that pregnancy cannot occur from the act of anal sex by itself, and that the risk of pregnancy from anal sex is considerably less than the risk from vaginal intercourse, the anus and the vaginal opening are very close together.
It’s easy enough for ejaculate (even when ejaculation occurs inside during anal sex) to run down and into contact with the vulva which then presents a pregnancy risk. Additionally, anal sex has a high chance for the spread of STIs. Condoms and lubricant should ideally be used for all anal sex play.
Check the research: Avert.org: Advice About Condoms, Medem.com: You and Your Sexuality,Scarleteen: Anal sex, spermicides, lube and the best expert of all..
FACT: Years ago the FDA tested and determined that yellow dye 5m is not a health threat of any kind to people unless they are allergic to it.
Caffeine studies have actually shown reputable evidence of increasing the mobility and effectiveness of sperm (much to the opposite of this classic myth. Actually, when the myth first started to circulate, neither the workers of the FDA nor Pepsi Co. the manufacturer of Mountain Dew knew where this myth had originated or why.
Check the research: MHN.com: Let's talk about sex-in the classroom, About.com: With All Dew Respect
FACT: All women have their own cycle of ovulation and menstruation, and with that some for some women ovulation can occur very near after menstruation. Just the same, women’s bodies are built in a way that allows pregnancy to occur, and thus sperm can live for days in the female reproductive tract. So, it’s certainly possible for a woman to become pregnant if she has sex during her period.
Check the research: Kids Health: Can a Girl Get Pregnant if She Has Her Period?, Kotex: FAQs Menstruation,Scarleteen: What do you want to know about periods and sex?.
FACT: Men produce millions of sperm each and every day. Just as any sperm that isn’t used is reabsorbed into the body, men aren’t likely to “run out” of sperm after ejaculating three times – nor does it take away enough sperm to take away the viable pregnancy risk. On average about 50 sperm will be able to reach the egg from one ejaculation, and it only takes one sperm to actually fertilize an egg, though that sperm needs the help of those other sperm to do that. When sperm is released with semen, the man’s body continues to do its job in replenishing the supply.
Check the research:Scarleteen: Can men have too many orgasms? Can you run out of semen?, Teen Wire: If I masturbate every day will I run out of sperm?.
FACT: If someone becomes pregnant, implantation of a fertilized egg usually occurs around a week after intercourse. When this happens, the pregnancy hormone HCG begins to be secreted to protect the fertilized egg from the mother’s immune cells. This hormone change is usually what causes any noticeable early symptoms, if it does at all.
These same symptoms are often things that occur for women before menstruation or the beginning of an illness, so it’s not uncommon for a woman to think she’s pregnant based on a symptom and find out that she’s not. For most women, the first sign of pregnancy is just a missed period.
Check the research: Mayo Clinic: Early symptoms of pregnancy: What happens right away, Medicine.net: Early Pregnancy Symptoms,Scarleteen: Peeing on a Stick: All About Pregnancy Tests.
FACT: Ovulation and menstruation are not one in the same, but two parts of one cycle. Women generally find out that they first ovulated when their first menstrual period comes. Because this occurs before first menstruation, a girl could be taking a huge risk with unprotected sex and not even know it. Additionally, because most women first suspect a pregnancy when they miss their period, a girl not expecting to get one could not know about a pregnancy until months after conception.
Check the research: Head to Toe: Menarche, Kids Health: Can I get pregnant if I've never had my period?,Scarleteen: What do you want to know about periods and sex?.
FACT: If after touching pre-ejaculate or ejaculate you hands were washed before touching yours (females) or your female partner’s genitals then there’s no risk of pregnancy. If you wiped your hands off after touching ejaculate or pre-ejaculate then there was no risk or an exceptionally low risk of pregnancy. To have a viable pregnancy risk with manual sex, your hand would have to be literally dripping with semen.
Check the research: Scarleteen: I didn't wash my hands after giving a handjob: am I pregnant?, Scarleteen: Pregnancy Risk Assessment: Manual Sex.
FACT: Because there’s no direct connection between your mouth and your genitals, women swallowing semen aren’t at a risk for pregnancy – though they are at risk of contracting an STI. Sperm tend to be pretty delicate as well, so they would not survive a trip from one person’s mouth to another and still be able to present a pregnancy risk by then being passed to the genitals through oral sex.
Check the research: About.com: Frequently Asked Questions on Teen Pregnancy, Go Ask Alice: Oral sex — Pregnant?,Scarleteen: Mouthing off on Oral Sex.
FACT: This method of “freshening” the vagina and preventing pregnancy is one method that has been proven a bad idea again and again. The vagina has its own way of cleaning out bacteria – vaginal secretions. There is a natural acidic ph balance maintained in the vagina, and the good bacteria help to ward off infections. Douching as a method of preventing pregnancy is more to the effect of closing the barn door after the horses have already run away – another words a little too late.
Check the research: 4woman.gov: Douching, About.com: Vaginal Douching - To Douche or Not to Douche - The Douche Debate Continues,Scarleteen: Honorably Discharged: A Guide to Vaginal Secretions.
FACT: Usually not, but it still can happen. Withdrawal ("pulling out" or a male-bodied person not ejaculating at all), used perfectly, which means a guy doesn't ejaculate at all, or does, but only outside and away from a woman's vagina or genitals, presents around a 4% risk of pregnancy per year of use. To give you a comparison, a method like the birth control patch presents a .3% risk of pregnancy per year of use. But sometimes sperm may be present in pre-ejaculate, which is likely why 4% of perfect withdrawal users become pregnant. The likeliness of sperm being present in pre-ejaculate is higher if the man has ejaculated recently or has not urinated before intercourse.
Check the research: Go Ask Alice: Withdrew before ejaculation — Pregnant? Options?, Mayo Clinic: Birth control: Can pre-ejaculation fluid cause pregnancy?,Scarleteen: Pregnancy Risk Assessment: Vaginal Intercourse.
FACT: Withdrawal certainly can be a reliable method of birth control for some people. But it is generally less effective for young adults than it if for older adults, primarily because it can be harder for young people to use it perfectly.
Perfect use of withdrawal requires a man to have very good ejaculatory control and a very keen, learned awareness of what it feels like when he is near ejaculation: this is relatively uncommon in younger men. Younger men tend to ejaculate faster (making pulling out in time more difficult), partnered sex is newer making it more difficult to anticipate when orgasm will happen (or has started happening), and of course younger people can tend to be more fertile than older people. This method also requires a trust and respect for the partner in not deciding to withdrawal without conversing or not withdrawing in time on purpose.
Check the research: Children Hospital (Boston): Withdrawal,Scarleteen: Birth Control Bingo: Withdrawal.
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Ever feel like there’s a mass market for wrong information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs)? Do you leave a conversation with a friend or reading an article or website and wonder if what...
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