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Attitude Adjustment
A recent study found that three-quarters of doctors (74%) are likely to prescribe extended-use oral contraceptives—the ones that let you go longer between periods. More than any other factor, the doctors who prescribed the extended-use contraceptives shared “a positive attitude toward skipping periods.” Doctors aren’t supposed to let their personal feelings influence how they treat […]
Pill good news and bad news
There was good news and not-so-good news for the pill this week. First, the good news: a new study confirms that women who have ever taken the pill—even for just a few years—have long-lasting protection from ovarian cancer. Previous research has shown that the pill also protects against uterine cancer and that, contrary to popular […]
Is solo sex linked to safer sex in teens?
New evidence suggests that teens who masturbate (which includes, surprise!, most of them) may also be more likely to use condoms when they have sex. At least, the ones willing to talk about it say they do. The study relied on a small number of teens who had to have permission from their parents to […]
Happy Birthday Our Bodies, Ourselves!
Long before women could look to the Internet for advice, support, and information, a small group of feminist activists published a book that became a sort of Bible of sexual health. Our Bodies, Ourselves has just been published in its ninth edition and it’s no less relevant than the first, which turns 40 this year. […]
Debunking the birth control/memory myth
You may have caught recent headlines to the effect that hormonal birth control was found to affect women’s memory. The study making the news tested women’s ability to remember details about disturbing pictures a week after they viewed them, and claimed to have found a difference between women who were on the pill and those […]
Minding the unplanned pregnancy gap
There are some things—acne, awkwardness, a curfew—it’s generally safe to look forward to outgrowing once your teenage years are behind you. One hazard that’s not so easily shed? Unplanned pregnancy. According to a report from the Guttmacher Institute , the proportion of US pregnancies that are unintended—already higher than other developed countries—rose slightly from 2001 […]
Things are better in college than we thought
According to a study by Columbia University researchers, college students overwhelmingly enjoy satisfying sex lives. Not only that, but for both men and women they found that physical satisfaction was closely tied to planning to having sex ahead of time and being in a committed relationship. So it seems that, contrary to what pop culture […]
There’s STI good news and bad news
There’s STI good news: What if there was a shot that protected you against not just HPV but against every virus out there? We aren’t there yet, but some MIT researchers recently made a major leap toward developing one—they’ve invented an across-the-board virus-killer that’s proven safe and effective when tested in mice. It’s got a […]
More promising, far-from-available male birth control
As if we needed another reason to save the rainforest: A leafy plant found deep in the jungles of Indonesia may hold the key to the elusive male birth control pill. The gandarusa plant has been used as a stress-reliever for centuries, and locals knew it had a reputation for reducing fertility. Now, researchers are […]
Keeping the faith
Religious OB-GYNs, especially those who are Hindu, Catholic, or Protestant, are more likely to believe that abstinence counseling works than doctors with no religious affiliation, according to a recent study. This isn’t too surprising considering that doctors are people too and carry their beliefs with them to their jobs. The study didn’t look at whether […]
