Goodbye!

Okay, so I know this is sort of abrupt, and I'm sorry for that - I should have saw it coming, but it looks like I'm not going to have any time for the blog any more now. As you know, last year was my senior year of college, which means that now I'm off in the real world now. And it took my all summer to find it, but I've finally got a job now - a real job, not just part-time at American Eagle. An actual career-related job. It's going to take a lot of my time, though, so I have to cut back on some hobbies now - including this blog.

That's okay, though, because honestly, I feel like I've already covered pretty much everything there was to cover on this blog. All of the methods of birth control I knew about, and even more information about safe sex beyond that. I am a little disappointed I didn't get a chance to more thoroughly examine that libida website, but on second glance it looks like they don't have too too many articles pertaining to safe sex - they're mostly other sex-related topics. Which are good too, so you should check them out, but they're nothing I feel like I should talk about on this blog. So, that's that then, I guess. I hope my posts have helped you, even if they've been a little on the ranty side. I hope some of the information has stuck. But just once more, for old time's sake, I'll give that time-tested piece of advice that I think everyone should follow: USE A CONDOM. :)

Safe Sex Guide on Libida

I thought that new website was going to be a good place to find good, solid informative pages about safe sex, and I was right! Well, I've only found one page that's actually about safe sex, so far. But they have quite a few other pages related to sexual health that I also think will be interesting, whenever I get a chance to get around to reading them. But, in the mean time, I read the one article about safe sex, which you can find here.

I immediately liked this article as soon as I read the title. I love the angle they took with it: making safe sex more appealing. Because there's no reason why safe sex can't be fun and erotic. It's still sex, you know. They give some really good tips in there, too, for how you can have a fun and pleasurable time even while using a condom. Which means you have no excuse not to! Seriously, I don't understand why people think they can't use a condom and still have a good time. I mean, I do understand it, but I think it's just ignorant. I think that article's got some great advice, I just wish they had more like it. Well, maybe they do, I haven't explored the entire website yet. So if I find any more articles about safe sex (or other good articles about sexual health information) I'll share them with you. And sorry this post was so short - although you guys are probably actually happy about that compared to some of my other posts - but I'm making this short because you should read the article itself.

Promising New Website

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A bit of a rant

Hey everybody, long time not see. Or talk. Or post. Or whatever. Sorry about that, it just seems like there was a chain of me being really busy for a couple of months. Finals, and then all my friends graduating (I have to stay for one more semester next year to finish some gen ed requirements), then looking for a summer job... it's been kind of hectic. But now things have finally started to settle down a little bit and I have some free time to post again. The only problem was, I didn't really have any idea what I could post about. After all, I've gone through all of the birth control methods I know about, and I made that fairly uneducated post about masturbation, so what else is there to talk about? Well, as far as birth control goes, probably not much, but that doesn't mean I'm out of things to say (as I'm sure you could figure). I went to that website I linked to last time with the guides about masturbation and vibrators and checked out some of the topics they covered there, and I was a little puzzled, if not ticked off, by a couple of them. So now, if anyone's still reading this blog, you get to hear a mini-rant by me about them. Lucky you!

The topics I'm referring to are their pages on male desensitizers and female enhancement potions - especially the latter. So, they talk about these different products they sell, and there's an air of skepticism throughout, but in the end, they decide that the products probably do do something and encourage you to try them out. Okay, now beyond the obvious reasons for this (they want to make more money), do they really think that these things work? Honestly, does anyone really think these things work? Well, I guess people must, or they wouldn't still be buying them. But seriously, orgasm enhancing gels and vaginal tighteners? Really? That stuff is just as bogus as all the stuff that claims to make your penis bigger and harder (hint: that stuff's bogus, if you ask me). I have to give this site some credit, though, it does talk about this stuff from a more scientific point of view and explains the results of these products more accurately. They don't magically give you orgasms or tighten you up, they mostly just produce heating or cooling sensations which may or may not add to the pleasure of your sexual experience. And as long as that's what you go in expecting (and it's all you should), then hey, you probably won't be disappointed. But there are cheap products that do those same things, that claim to ONLY do those things, and they're the same damn things as more expensive products that claim to do more. The real question here is, I think, why do people NEED more? What's the obsession with vaginal tightness or need for an easy way to have better orgasms? Sex can be plenty pleasurable for both the guy and girl no matter how tight you are as long as you know what you're doing. Likewise, as long as you take your time and know what you like, you shouldn't need any "miracle gel" to have a great orgasm. In fact, they even have a page on that same site about how to have an orgasm. There are some great tips there for things that will ACTUALLY work: relaxing, getting rid of stress, and thinking about things that turn you on, for example. They're all pretty simple tips, and they work for me, and I'm pretty sure they'd work for every woman as long as you just really relax and stop worrying about it. Stress can cause MAJOR problems in reaching an orgasm, just like everything else. So the most useful advice is RELAX. If you can do that, you shouldn't need any miracle creams or gels or whatever. I promise. As for the vaginal tightness thing... that's just shallow. That shouldn't matter, just like the size of his penis shouldn't matter. As long as you can still have pleasurable sex (and I almost guarantee you can), there isn't a problem. People are just too obsessed with being perfect these days. But I'm afraid that if I continue on that path this will turn into a whole different kind of rant, so I'm going to nip that one in the bud and end the post here. I don't know if I actually accomplished anything with this post, but I hope you at least found the links to that site informative if not me. I have no idea what I'll post about next time... but I'm sure I'll think of something! In the mean time, I just want to repeat that most important bit of advice I gave, because I think it could come in handy for everyone, even if you're not talking about having an orgasm: RELAX. I think everybody, including myself, could benefit from doing that a little more often.

Something a little different

So I got some free time after class today, and I thought, why not make a blog post? I didn’t want to leave you all hanging for more than a month again! (Because I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for my next post with bated breath) So I was wracking my brain to try and think of what to post of next, now that I’ve finished up with the posts about spermicides, but honestly, I couldn’t think of anything. I thought there were more types of birth control out there, but I think I’ve already gone through all the ones that I really know anything about. There are more types, but they’re mostly implants and other things like that that a doctor has to prescribe to you - and since I’m not a doctor, I don’t really know much about them. If I tried to post about them, I think it would be pretty obvious that I was talking out of my ass - I’ve never been the best bullshitter, much to the dismay of some of my essay grades. So I was thinking of what I could post about, and then I realized that it doesn’t have to be birth control, per say. So I did think of something that could help prevent pregnancy: masturbation.

No, no, don’t worry - this isn’t turning into one of those abstinence only sex education programs that tries to glorify masturbation as an alternative to sex. It’s not. But it can help curb your sexual appetite. And I’m not advocating abstinence here - even people who have had sex before could use some advice about not having sex so freely. I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about. I’ve got a friend whose name I’m not going to mention who just got out of a big break up a couple of weeks ago. So, the first thing she did the weekend after the break up was to go sleep with two different guys in the same weekend. I don’t judge people so I’m not saying what she did was wrong, but it might not have been the safest behavior in the world. Likewise, I know girls who if they’ve gone a couple of weeks or months without sex, they’ll start to crave it and be more willing to make a poor decision in order to get it. And all the girls I know who have behaved like this either haven’t liked masturbation or haven’t tried it. But in my opinion, it is a very viable solution when you want to have sex but probably shouldn’t, given your circumstances. No, it’s not the same, but it’s something, at least. And it can feel a little more like sex if you use a dildo or vibrator. I’ll be honest, I’ve never needed to use a vibrator to get off before, but I have friends who own them and swear by them. So I wanted to mention them, but once again, I don’t want my lack of any really knowledge to shine through my unimpressive bullshitting skills - so I did a little bit of research online and found a website that seems to have some pretty comprehensive guide about them here. They’ve also got a section that helps you pick out the best vibrator for you here. I might look around that site and try to learn more so I can make a more informed post next time - but then again, I don’t know when I’ll really get the chance to do that and post about it again. Finals are steadily approaching, so we’ll see how much time I get - the next post might be for a while. But in the mean time, I hope all the information on that website will tide you over!

More Spermicide

Sorry it’s been so long since last time! I know I promised you a part two to the post about spermicidal inserts last time, so I bet you were expecting that a little earlier than now, perhaps. I just got swamped with work for the past few weeks, but I’ve finally got a break now.
Anyways, I told you there were a couple more spermicidal methods, and I want to cover those now. Sorry if the information is going to be a little sparse, but I really don’t know a whole lot about these methods because I’m not a huge fan of them. They’re great if you use them in conjunction with a condom and the pill, but by themselves, not so much. Let me say that again - I do not recommend using one of these methods alone.

The first are just called spermicidal inserts. They’re vaginal suppositories, so they’re pretty easy to use: just insert them prior to sex for added protection. The keyword is added - you should definitely only use these with a condom or diaphragm. But even so, I don’t think this is a great product. As you can see, it doesn’t even have the greatest reviews on the website. So if you’re dead set on using these, go ahead, just make sure you don’t use them alone. But otherwise, I’d say use something else.

This second one is Vaginal Contraceptive Jelly. It’s basically the same deal as the inserts - it’s just a spermicidal substance, the only difference is it doesn’t have to dissolve first to work. It’s also a lot harder to use by itself. I recommend this over the spermicidal inserts, not because I think it works better or is safer by itself, but because it’s harder to use by itself. You can’t just apply jelly like this to the inside of the vagina - not well, anyways. You can, however, spread it on a condom rather easily. So I’m all for using this with a condom for extra protection. Just remember, the keyword is extra, because that’s all products like these should ever be!

I think that just about covers the main spermicidal methods of protection. So that means there’ll be something new next time. And I’ll try not to keep you waiting so long this time! Sorry again!

Spermicidal Inserts

Hey everyone, hope the new semester’s going well! I really like all of my classes. But by now I’m mostly done with gen ed requirements and I’m just taking classes for my major, so that’s not really a big surprise. Anyways, there isn’t too much work yet as we’re just getting into the swing of things, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to make another post while I still can.

I wanted to start talking about another type of birth control now. And yeah, I’m sure you’re all relieved to know I’m not talking about condoms any more, but just you wait, there might be another post coming yet if I think of anything else. But right now it occurred to me to mention some other types as well. I’ve talked about two major types so far - hormonal (birth control, which affects your hormones to prevent pregnancy) and barrier (condoms, which stop sperm from reaching the cervix). Well now I’m going to talk about another type: spermicidal. If you’re familiar with any latin root words (thank you AP English...) you can probably figure out that these types of birth control work using chemicals that kill the sperm.

There are a lot of different variations of spermicidal birth control, but the main chemical that most of them use is called Nonoxynol-9. I’m not chemistry major so I don’t really understand what that means or how exactly it works (and wikipedia didn’t help much), but it’s designed to kill sperm, that’s all I know. Here are a couple of types of birth control that utilize it.

First, this is vaginal contraceptive film. It’s a square of material that you insert into the vagina, as far up as you can, and it dissolves into gel which contains the Nonoxynol-9. It markets itself as a contraceptive that you can’t feel, so I bet a lot of kids try it instead of condoms based on that promise. You better believe I have something to say about that misguided notion, but I’ll address that in a moment.

The second kind I want to talk about is the “Today Sponge” also known as just “the sponge.” It is, as you can guess (come on, we’re college kids, we’re bright), a sponge. Supposedly, it not only releases Nonoxynol-9 but is also extra effective because it blocks sperm’s path and absorbs sperm. I’m inclined to believe that it is more effective because it does that, but maybe still not as effective as you might think.

So why does it seem like I’m being harsh on these products? Because they’re asking for it. Essentially, the way that they’re marketed is like telling kids that it’s okay to use them without condoms or the birth control pill - and I bet most do. But spermicidal methods of birth control tend to be some of the least effective - allow me to refer you back to that chart I posted a while ago. So, why would anyone buy them at all? Like I said, they’re not as “uncomfortable” as condoms and some kids think they can get away with just using these and make the sex feel better. That’s WRONG. Alone, these types of methods can be only 70-80% effective. Condoms and the pill are much more effective and thus far superior methods of birth control.

So why am I talking about these at all? Well, you can use them in conjunction with condoms or the pill. Most spermicidal inserts like these can be used along with a condom without issue. And all of them can be used along with the pill, just like a condom can be used with the pill. Now obviously I’m not going to tell you should use all three of these methods at the same time, that might seem a little excessive - I’m just saying you can. Personally, I think you should use AT LEAST two methods of birth control - be it condoms and the pill, spermicide and the pill, or spermicide and condoms - to be extra safe. Because alone, each method is never more than 95% effective. And as much as college kids have sex, 95% is actually a pretty low number, let alone 70 or 80. So the reason I’m talking about more various methods is to show you that you’ve got options if you want to try different combinations out, but you should always use a combination (and by that I do NOT mean two condoms - as I said before, that’s a really bad idea). Personally, I think the best combination is condoms with the pill, but it’s up to you what you think is the right balance of feeling and protection. I’m just here to explain the options and their risks to you.

Ok, I think that’s about it for now. There are a couple more spermicidal methods of birth control for me to cover, but I’ll get to those next time. Bye for now!