March 2010

March 30th 2010

Should Guys Be Making Love Instead of Just Performing?

- Laura Sessions Stepp

Thanks to Jessica Coen at Jezebel for pulling together a bunch of sex surveys published over the last year.

My eyes landed on this one: “Truth about Sex: 60% of Young Men Lie About It.” As Jessica put it, “Duh.”

However, there were a couple of nuggets in that particular survey, which was administered online by TRU, a respected youth market research company.* One was this: Of the 1,200 guys ages 15-22 who were interviewed, 78% said there was “way too much pressure” from society to have sex.

March 26th 2010

Infertility: Birth control=Rubber, STIs=Glue

- Provider Perspective

Women under 30 years old are incredibly fertile – their ability to get pregnant is at its peak. In the U.S., about three in four sexually active women under 30 are using some type of birth control. But many of them ask me, does using birth control now hurt my chances of getting pregnant in the future? Sigh of relief: it does not.

All reversible birth control methods will help prevent pregnancy while you’re using them, but none have long-lasting effects on your ability to get pregnant when you stop. That’s why women who use the Pill but accidentally forget to take it for a few days can get pregnant that month.

March 26th 2010

The Day Mr. Jump-the-Gun Broke All the Rules

- Stefanie

The other day Class Act and I went on a walk to enjoy the good weather. I was telling her that Miss Sassy Pants wants to make me a shirt that says “I’m not playing hard to get. I’m just dense.”

Class Act: “Yes, you do need the shirt.”

Me: “Well that’s the pot calling the kettle black!”

Class Act: “What?”

Me: “Remember Mr. Jump-the-Gun?”

Class Act: “He never asked me out on a date. What is the Rule?”

Me: “Don’t get worked up unless the boy asks you out on an actual date.”

Class Act: “See, it was different.”

March 24th 2010

Today's the "Back Up Your Birth Control" Day of Action!

- Liz Sabatiuk

Okay, so I confess I was excited to have an excuse to post a video of bunnies (below--found thanks to RHRealityCheck), but I'm even more excited about the Back Up Your Birth Control Campaign, coordinated by the National Institute for Reproductive Health, to raise awareness about emergency contraception (EC, a.k.a. the morning-after pill).

March 23rd 2010

Women’s Desire: Does It Really Need Fixing?

- Laura Sessions Stepp

Since when do 20-, 25- or 28-year-old women need a pill to pop so they can get aroused? Or a battery-operated device placed in their spinal cord?

March 19th 2010

March Madness of a Different Kind

- Stefanie

The other day I was having lunch with Sunshine Girl and catching up about her recent business trip. Sunshine Girl works on a grant program for an unnamed government agency and had to go to the annual grantee conference.

Before Sunshine Girl left for the conference, her colleague Mr. Worrywart pulled her aside and said, “You cannot, under any circumstance, fraternize with the grantees. It is a conflict of interest and there have been serious issues.”

Sunshine Girl: “I will keep that in mind.”

Mr. Worrywart: “You don’t understand. You are the only person under 30 to be allowed to go to this conference in five years. There have been some issues in the past.”

Sunshine Girl: “Do not engage. I get it.”

March 15th 2010

The IUD, As Seen on TV!

- Sex and Media Team

Alicia Florrick is so much more than The Good Wife (Tuesdays, 10p, on CBS). She’s a good mom, a good lawyer, a good dresser, smart, calm, and cool. She was hit broadside by allegations (and admissions) that her husband was sleeping with prostitutes and taking bribes in his post as state’s attorney and she’s picking up the pieces of her life, her family and her career.

March 15th 2010

Female Condom Distribution - What's to Debate?

- Laura Sessions Stepp

Nothing gets my blood boiling quite as much as a man disparaging the idea that girls and women need better methods of preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy.

This happened in last Saturday’s Washington Post when a letter writer took issue with a March 6 story describing Washington health officials’ plan to distribute free female condoms in neighborhoods with a high incidence of HIV infection.