Back to School

Classes started this week! The first few days weren’t too bad (which was why I was able to get that quick post in on Monday), but the work’s already starting to pile up now. I don’t have any information to share with you right now, I’ve actually got to be somewhere in a half hour and I know it would take me too long to write a real post. I’m sure you’re all breathing sighs of relief. I just wanted to put this up real quick to let you all know that my posts aren’t going to be as frequent now that I’m back at school, but I am still going to make them. And they’ll be more important than ever now that all of you are back at school, too. I know you’ll all be in situations more often where you could benefit from my advice, and you know it too. I’m going to keep posting as often as I can, so please, PLEASE keep checking back and reading, because all of this information will be especially important during the school year! And if you know any freshmen, especially, who could use the information, refer them to my site. Believe me, I remember freshman year, and they’ve got enough reasons to be stressed out this year. They don’t need to add pregnancy to the list. Alright, well, bye for now. I hope to talk to you all again soon!

More condom information

Yeah, yeah, I can already hear you groaning. But don’t worry, this isn’t going to be another long lecture about condoms from me. Instead, I just want to provide a link to a web page with a lot of information about condoms. Some of it is the same stuff I’ve already talked about, but some of it’s new. It has a lot more of the raw data and statistics than I’ve posted, too. So if you have a little bit of time, I’d strongly suggest you read through this page so you can learn a little more. The more you know about condoms, the better, since they’re the number one form of birth control and it’s very likely that you’re going to be using them, especially if you go to college. It’s a lot of information to take in, and you might think you don’t need to know all of it, and you might be partially right about some of it. But like they say, better safe than sorry. Here’s the link.

While I’m at it, here’s a table on the same site comparing different types of birth control. So far all I’ve talked about are male and female condoms, but I’m going to be getting to the other types soon.

There you go, that’s all for now. Think of it as a little break from my boring lectures. But really, I’m sorry if you think they’re boring, but I’ve heard most health education is. It might be boring, but it’s important. So I hope you’ll stick around for when I talk about some of the other types of birth control.

Female Condoms

Up until now, when I’ve talked about condoms, I’ve been referring to the male condom, which is the more mainstream type of condom. But there’s actually another type. I bet you can’t guess what these ones are called.

That’s right, the female condom. Here’s an example of a fairly popular one: the fc female condom.

Like male condoms, female condoms are a fairly effective form of birth control, but they’re not quite as effective as male condoms. If used every time you have sex, male condoms are effective 97% of the time, but female condoms are only effective about 95% of the time. Female condoms are more expensive, too. There are some advantages, though. For one thing, all female condoms are made of polyurethane, which means they’re more comfortable than latex and you (most likely) don’t have to worry about an allergy. Also, because they line the vagina instead of going around the penis, they provide a looser fit that a lot of people say makes it feel more natural. I’ve never had sex without a condom, so I can’t make that comparison, but I trust that those people are right.

The biggest advantage to female condoms, though, is that they give women the sense of control that male condoms don’t. A lot of times, especially in college, sex can be a spontaneous thing. You might not think you’re going to be spending Friday night with someone else, but then you go out partying and sure enough, you end up having sex. Believe me, I know what that’s like. So it’s always best to be prepared. A female condom can be inserted up to eight hours before having sex and still be effective. So if you think you’re going to be “getting lucky”, you can make sure that that luck doesn’t turn sour and prepare in advance by putting in a female condom. Plus, I think it gives a sense of empowerment that you don’t have to rely on the guy to put on a condom. Because I’m sure a lot of you girls know that guys aren’t the most reliable, and they forget (or more likely “forget”) things like that all the time.

I think that’s just about all I can think of to say about female condoms. As always, if you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask them.

Other condom materials

Yeah, yeah, it’s another post about condoms. I feel like a condom salesman. But hey, it’s important. Condoms are by far the most widely known and most used type of birth control out there.

In my first post about condoms, I mentioned two materials condoms are made from – latex and polyisoprene. Latex is the most popular material for condoms out there, and has been for quite some time. There are way more latex condoms out there than anything else. Polyisoprene, on the other hand, is a fairly newly discovered material in condom-making, and there are very few types of polyisoprene condom on the market. But there are two other materials used in condoms, too.

Polyurethane is another synthetic material, similar to polyisoprene, but it’s been around a little longer. There are more varieties than there are for polyisoprene, but it’s still nowhere near the number there are for latex. Like polyisoprene, people with latex allergies can use polyurethane condoms safely. Not only are there polyurethane male condoms, but all female condoms are made of polyurethane, too. I’ll talk more about female condoms next time (yes, there’s going to be at least one more post about condoms. They’re important.) An example of a polyurethane male condom is Trojan Supra.

Last and probably least, there’s lambskin condoms. They’re made from the intestines of a sheep. Sounds gross, right? Yeah. Lambskin was one of the first materials to be used for condoms, even before latex. There’s a reason we’ve developed new materials. Lambskin condoms have pores in them that are small enough so that sperm can’t pass through, so they do protect against pregnancy, but the pores are big enough that STDs CAN pass through. Lambskin condoms are still available, but they’re more expensive than other types and I do NOT recommend them at all. The only reason they still exist is because some people are allergic to latex, but in modern day there are polyisoprene and polyurethane condoms for that. The only reason you should ever get these is if you’re allergic to latex AND the other two materials (if that’s even possible). But if for whatever reason you want lambskin, and example is Trojan Naturalamb.

That’s all for now. Next time, I’ll talk about female condoms. As always, if you’ve got questions, ask away.