You would think as important as sex is to most men that they would spend time to become experts in birth control. Unfortunately, for many men (if not most) that is not the case. After sex education classes in school, dozens of racy articles in men’s health magazines and years of real-world experience, many men are still profoundly mixed up about how birth control works. Being mixed up comes with serious consequences – such as making a woman pregnant when you don’t intend to.
If you don’t feel like having your carefree bachelor existence cut short and being made to confront demands for child support, you owe it to yourself to know what works as birth control and what doesn’t. Hopefully, some of the information in this article will help you to plan for pregnancy, protect your health, and allow you to enjoy sex just for sex.
Some men think certain positions work as birth control
Really? Too many men think that doing it standing up works in their favor because of gravity. To think this way is to greatly underestimate how thoroughly perfected the reproductive design is. Sperm do not care about gravity. They laugh at gravity. It is a scientific fact that sperm are pretty much unfazed by gravity. They don’t care about sexual positions. Like little commandos, these little fellas have a mission to complete and they will do everything they can to complete that mission.
Some men think that any lube gets the job done … parts is parts, as they say
While any lube may serve your immediate needs very well, it may not work very well for your long-term needs of staying footloose and fancy-free. If you read the fine print on condom packages they always warn you against using oil-based lube. The oil can actually begin to dissolve your condom leading to breakage or tiny holes that the dissolving action of the oil on latex causes. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, many oils increase the chance of condom failure between 2 and 15 percent (click HERE for more information). And, as you should know, if there is any kind of a break in the condom, those pesky sperm will do their utmost to find that break.
If you want (and who wouldn’t) a lubricant to use with condom, your best bet is to go with a water-based lubricant. Just so you know.
Many men don’t think they need a condom because she takes the Pill
There’s nothing actually wrong with trusting the Pill. It is one of the most reliable forms of birth control. However, it is all about who the woman is who is offering the assurance that she is ‘safe’ because she is on the Pill. Hard as it is to believe, not all women are 100% reliable in telling the truth. Also, hard to believe, not all women fully understand how the Pill works. If she started taking the Pill that morning, or that week, then she is NOT protected in any way. The Pill takes time to take effect. It can generally take up to a month before the Pill can be effective. And, there are reports of some women getting pregnant while on the Pill. It is very, very, rare but it has been reported.
Also, it isn’t unheard of for some women to be untruthful about being on the Pill because they wish to be pregnant. Because a woman is on the Pill doesn’t mean that she cannot pass on to you some unpleasant disease. The Pill in no way protects against STD’s. In short, keep your condoms handy until you really get to know a woman and feel you can trust her with one of your most cherished body parts.
Many men think they know how to work a condom (but really don’t)
It starts with the wrapper. Condoms come in little slippery packages that are fussy about how they like to be handled. Like most women, condoms do not respond well to being roughly handled. Men who roughly rip their condom packages apart or use their teeth (in the heat of the moment, they are just glad that they are responsible enough to think of birth control) often don’t realize that there is a 50% chance of invisible damage occurring to the contents of the package and a 30% higher chance of a pregnancy occurring.
Knowing what to do with the condom once it is out of the package seems to throw many men, too. Many men do not realize that even pre-lubricated condoms only have lubrication on the outside, not on the inside. Sometimes, with constant action, and without a little lubricant inside, the latex can begin to rip.
Even if you do use an intact condom with a touch of lubricant inside, you still need to know how to wear one. Fully 50% of condom users (according to a study done at Indiana University) put them on inside out, pull them down only part of the way or pull them down so far that the tip is stretched out. Condoms don’t work as well when used in any of these ways. You can click HERE for more info and strange opinions.
When manufacturers publish figures for expected efficiency on birth control products, they don’t account for all the mistakes users can make. Even if a condom is handled perfectly, installed perfectly and used to perfection, there is still a chance a condom can fail. Condoms are about 98% effective. That means a condom will work 98 out of 100 times. Not having sex with your 99th or 100th partner will not make you 100% safe, in case you happen to think that much of yourself. Too many men think condoms are 100% of the time just because, well, they are condoms and suppose to work.
Lastly: You know that condom passed down to you from your uncle 3 years ago that you have been keeping in your wallet? Replace it. Condoms have a shelf life. If you get a box of condoms they should have that self life written right on them. Consider keeping your condom in a safer place, too.
Why do so many men struggle with birth control stuff?
As a man with some experience I can only venture a guess. I call it the I-do-not-need-a-map theory. Most men hate to stop for directions. Most men I know hate to spend too much time with any type of instruction unless it has to do with being better at some sport or another. Also, most men I know want to think they know almost everything about anything. I have found the more know-it-all a man acts the more likely he knows something, just not very much. All the men I know DO NOT like being in a position where they don’t know. Often the best answer for many men when confronted with not-knowing is to fake it. I’d venture to guess most young men take this approach. Most old men get to be old men by learning this ‘fake it’ approach is not the best answer in all situations.
Many men figure they will find their way without the map (and, hey, it could be fun); complete any project without much help from instructions (which validates how smart they are); and that they are born naturally successful lovers (which means understanding birth control is just natural to them). Unfortunately, in both birth control and war, this type of thinking can lead to very sad consequences. It’s why, when it comes to war, ALL future soldiers have to attend weeks of boot camp. It takes some time to teach people that the I-don’t-need-instructions way of thinking is not the universally correct way to think about risks (and prepare recruits for the real risks they will face).
That’s my theory, anyway. Hopefully, this article will assist some guys in better understanding what they thought they knew. No shame in not knowing and learning. I ripped open many a condom package with my teeth till I learned better. Hopefully, you won’t have to learn the hard way like I did. Just trying to help. Have fun and be safe out there.
