Birth Control

Contraception or birth control: whichever you call it, here's a whole lot of information on when we may need or want to prevent pregnancy, and the array of current methods and practices available to do it with and how to use them effectively.

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

It's fine to start on day two. Really, it's okay to start at any time in your cycle. It's just that the pill will become fully effective more quickly if you start at certain times rather than others. If you start within the first six days of a period, your withdrawal bleed (the "period" that happens...

Advice
  • Ruthie

Just Curious, I'm so glad that you wrote in with this question! I remember Enrique Iglesias made news back in 2007 when he voiced his concerns with condoms that fit too loosely, and LifeStyles immediately responded with an endorsement deal and the promise that they would have a condom in his size...

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

That question probably either sounds like a really important one or a really stupid one, depending on your view. But I want the answer regardless, and am seriously tired of waiting for it. That's why I went ahead and asked it myself. As an organization that provides information on all methods of...

Article
  • Heather Corinna

You've probably heard or thought some things about condom use that might be keeping you or others from using them or from using them consistently, and I'm willing to bet you haven't heard everything I'm about to say. Even if you're already using condoms and using them every single time properly, I bet you know someone -- a sibling, a friend, a sexual partner -- who could stand to hear ten great reasons to use condoms.

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

"Birth control" or "contraception" simply means any number of methods a person may or does use in order to try to prevent pregnancy. So, condoms are birth control. The pill is birth control. IUDs are birth control. The Depo-Provera shot is birth control. Withdrawal is birth control. If you choose...

Advice
  • Sarah Riley

Right now, it sounds like you are your partner are practicing withdrawal as a form of birth control. As a method of contraception, withdrawal is not the most effective choice available. With perfect use it is about 96% effective (meaning that about 4 out of every 100 people using it will become...

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

There are a bunch of things you can know and do that I think are going to help you feel a lot better. When we talk about the effectiveness of any kind of contraception, including condoms, we reference two different groups of figures. One is perfect use: that means a person always uses their method...

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

It's not a strange question, but it certainly is an infuriating issue. That woman was either dishonest with you or unknowingly mistaken. In the United States, all 50 of them, minors may purchase condoms just like legal adults can. That also includes minors who are not above a given state's age of...

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

(Woah's question continued) Even though I am on the pill and he washes his hands before hand, he almost has a panic attack every time that he fingers me. Also, every time that I feel the least bit icky and say anything about it he makes me promise him over and over that I’m not pregnant. I think...

Advice
  • Kellie

Low libido is a relatively common side effect of some birth control pills more than others. The primary mechanism that makes oral contraceptives effective in preventing pregnancy is that they prevent ovulation from happening by suppressing the release of hormone stimulating substances called...