December 10, 2012 • 23 mins
What is the rhythm method and who developed it? Why is the rhythm method referred to as "Catholic roulette"? Are the rhythm method and other forms of natural birth control effective? Join Cristen and Caroline to learn the answers to these questions and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to stuff mom never told you from how Stuff
works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm
Kristen and I'm Caroline. You got rhythm, Caroline, No, me neither,
not at all. Well, we are going to talk about
the rhythm method today. Is that dancing? Um, it is.
(00:27):
It's sex sing, not to be confused with sex thing.
It's actually doing the sex. Yes, okay, but with a
metronome on the bedside table. Yeah, it's. Uh. It's definitely
a method that people employ to either help get pregnant faster,
more efficiently, or to prevent pregnancy in a natural way
(00:50):
that has nothing to do with hormones or devices. Yes,
the rhythm method is also known as the calendar method
and sometimes referred to as periodic abstinence if you are
trying to not get pregnant. Um, And but it is.
It's similar to some other natural family planning techniques that
(01:14):
you might have heard of, though, yeah, it's not exactly
the same as natural family planning and American Pregnancy dot
Org broke it down. Uh. They said that natural family
planning is a collection of methods using your body's natural
and normal functioning to determine the days of the month
you're most likely to get pregnant. It's also known as
fertility awareness, sympto thermal method, ovulation method, or Billing's method.
(01:39):
And uh looking at the simpto thermal method in particular,
that actually combines a couple of different ways of doing
natural birth control quote unquote, So they use the temperature method,
the cervical mucus method, and the rhythm slash calendar method
to combine into one giant track your body adventure. And
(02:02):
these kinds of natural family planning methods UM are popular
for UM a lot of women because they don't involve
any hormonal drugs or any kinds of devices like an
i U D that you would have UM inserted inside
of you that you leave in there. UM and studies
(02:22):
have found that when they are practiced perfectly, Okay, this
is we're talking perfectly. It's like the you know when
you hear about the birth control like taking birth control
pills and it's n effective when you take that pill
every day at the same time, that's perfect use, not
typical use. Uh So, the perfect use for this, according
to UM a two thousand seven German study, this was
(02:45):
with the sympto thermal method leads to an unintended pregnancy
rate of only point six per cent. And so that
seems wow, that that seems great. You don't have to
pay for anything. All you have to do is get
with your partner and make sure that you are each
keeping track of your well. First, you have to calculate
(03:06):
your menstrual cycles and keep track with him for about
twelve months. Keep an eye on that cervical mucus, keep
your you know, your basil, body temperature, and chick. It's okay,
what I'm trying to say. It's a lot more work
than than popping a pill every month. But nevertheless, because
it's not popping a pill, it is worth it for
(03:26):
some women. But for just the straight up rhythm method.
What are we talking about, Caroline? So this is when
the woman tracks her minstrel history, like you said, for
twelve orent months depends. Some people just do it for
half a year. Uh. So they tracked the minstrel history
to predict when she will ovulate, to help determine when
(03:48):
she's most likely to conceive. And this helps you determine
the best days to have sex to get pregnant or
the best days to have sex to not get pregnant. Yeah,
and because uh, a lot of women will have irregular
cycles that some will last longer than others. Ladies, you
know what we're talking about. Um, you you want to have,
(04:11):
like you said, some Caroline, some people will just track
their mentoral cycles for six months. You probably want to
do that for and this is coming from the Mayo Clinic,
for closer to a year because of those varying lengths.
And so once you have collected all of that data,
you then do some adding and subtracting to determine the
(04:32):
longest menstrual cycle and the shortest minstrel cycle and the
window of time between that, which could be a couple
of weeks out of the month. But it involves doing math,
that's says the journalism agents, like you have to you
have to find the length of your shortest minstrual cycle
and subtract eighteen that's the first fertile day of your cycle.
(04:54):
Then you have to find the length of your longest
minstrual cycle and subtract eleven from the total number of days. Uh,
and that's the last frittile day of your cycle. And
I'm not going to go into the math any more
than that because I would confuse myself and I would
confuse our dear listeners. There's probably I'm gonna guess that
there's an app for this. Yes, And actually I was
(05:14):
talking to a woman not long ago who I brought
up the Rhythm Method because I just can't help talking
about the podcast. Yeah. Um, and she she actually used it,
and she was very excited. I wish I could remember
and maybe a listener can fill me in, But she
was very excited about this calendar she bought that in
(05:34):
the back of it had like all of these different
calendars for women consumers of that calendar to track their
minstrel cycles. Yeah, and that would be I could see
how I would be really uh, I don't know, kind
of cool maybe to get that in touch with your body.
But it does take a lot of of work and
(05:55):
a lot of upkeep and a lot of abstinence, which
can be frustrating for couples and is a reason why
it's not always one reason why it's not always so
fool proof. Right. But um. Even though the Rhythm Method
(06:15):
might not be like as popular today, it was a
first and significant step toward family planning when it was
developed by doctor John Rock, who was a Catholic doctor
who thought that parents should have more resources for planning.
Family planning, and him being a Catholic doctor in particular
(06:38):
is significant because a lot of times the Rhythm method
is referred to as the Vatican roulette Um because by
and we'll get into this in more detail, the Catholic
Church's official stance on family planning is that you need
to go all natural. But back to Dr Rock, Yeah,
Rock was very passionate actually about the notion that women
(07:01):
should have control over their own reproductive systems. And as
as a Roman Catholic, he said, you know, you should
have as many children as you have the means to support,
but women should have the power to stop expanding their families.
He actually founded the Rhythm Clinic in nineteen thirty six
at the Free Hospital for Women which is now Brigham
(07:21):
and Women's Hospital, and he would hand out you know,
I say hand out, you know, being frivolous, he would
give patients a scientific prediction dial yeah um. Over at
Harvard Magazine, they have an image of this ninety four
rhythm meter which was almost like it's a combination like
(07:42):
like it reminded me like of a of a most
complicated like avocus, so you could think of had like
a dial with a chart with a calendar. I think
that you needed a PhD. From Harvard to understand the
rhythm meter um. But really, at the time, in ninety
the rhythm meth it was the only like legal form
of birth control in Massachusetts, so you had to, you know,
(08:05):
get in there and do it. But then um, in
the early fifties, Dr Rocks Clinic conducted the first trials
of hormone based contraception that would later be branded as
in Avid UH podcast. All star listeners out there, you
probably know that is the name brand of the first
FDA approved birth control pill available in the United States. Yeah,
(08:26):
going back a little bit, this is writer Paul Vitterbo
in the journal Endeavor from March two thousand four, who
wrote what was the great title of the article I
Got Rhythm, Gershwin and birth Control in the nineteen thirties,
which officially is maybe my favorite study title that I've
ever run across. Do you want to hear a little
bit of the abstract please? Okay, because I couldn't find
(08:49):
the full text and I was very disappointed. Uh, he
writes Gershwin song I Got Rhythm serves here as a
backdrop representing the social context of the interwar yors on
center stage the particular aspect of the history of birth
control the app application of a new theory of ovulation
and contraception. For a short period, women could join ethel
(09:10):
Merman in the refrain I got rhythm, I got my man.
Who could ask for anything more? But the rhythm method
has not lived to its promise? And the play goes on. Yeah,
he writes, the starting in night experiments finally revealed the
biochemical rhythm and women's reproductive cycle, which contradicted the idea
(09:30):
that ovulation and pregnancy could occur at any time. Prior
to this, most people kind of misunderstood ovulation and when
it happened. Uh. This is coming from Case Western Reserve University.
By studying animal behavior, researchers thought women were safe from
pregnancy at the midpoint of their minstrual cycle, which is
(09:51):
in fact when most women are most likely to conceive UM.
So we we get the we get the rhythm method.
And and even though that's only the starting point, like
one one step along the way to developing um hormonal contraception,
it sticks around, particularly in the Catholic community, and I
(10:13):
feel like we need to talk about that because it
is it's a very pertinent point. UM and I am
I am not a Catholic and wanted to know specifically
why the Rhythm method is closely associated with Catholicism and
the church's position on birth control relates directly to Pope
Paul the Six Six Thesists UH nineteen sixty eight Humanitie Vita,
(10:37):
in which he said that contraception was quote intrinsically wrong.
And that was from Timothy Egan writing about it in
the New York Times. But if you look at surveys
now of birth control methods practiced among American Catholics UM
and also just opinion polls UM on Catholics regarding birth control,
a majority of them now out say that the church's
(11:01):
position is a bit outdated. And in addition, a goot
Mocker Institute survey found that nine percent of sexually active
Catholic women have used a birth control other than the
Rhythm method. Because even UM, like when they're talking about
contraception being intrinsically wrong, that includes Stephen condoms. Well, one
(11:24):
Catholic woman who is very very pro Rhythm method, This
is Anne Green over at us Catholic dot org, she
read a really long piece about her own involvement in
When she and her husband were about to get married,
they had counseling and they learned about the rhythm method,
and like now they're crazy about it, and they teach
other couples about that method. And she wrote that in
(11:47):
addition to church approval, Mike and I appreciate the health
aspects of natural family planning, and like we said, that
kind of encompasses a lot of methods, then just the
rhythm methods, right, that's distinct from the rhythm method before
people start furiously typing, Yeah, exactly. Um, she said, more
people hold their food up to close scrutiny is it
organic or natural? In the same spirit, women who practice
(12:10):
natural family planning do not ingest artificial hormones containing possibly
toxic ingredients manufactured in an unknown pharmaceutical plant. Yeah, and
I and I can completely understand that motivation. And and and also,
UH didn't mean to imply earlier that, um Catholic, all
Catholic women have just you know, thrown the uh Pope
(12:31):
Paul the Sixes advice out the window. There's still plenty
of women who Catholic women especially who prefer to stick
with the rhythm method or natural family planning or similar
forms of birth control. UM. But when it comes to
just the rhythm method itself of tracking the menstrual cycle
and paying attention to the calendar, not the whole all
(12:52):
the stuff with the body temperature and the cervical mucus, Uh,
there are UM low lights to those free and natural highlights.
For instance, the birth rate resulting out from the rhythm
method is not very impressive with typical use. Women out
(13:17):
of a hundred will get pregnant via rhythm method in
a year. Yeah, and that's I mean specifying that's unintended pregnancy.
That's not using it to get pregnant, right um. And also,
of course, the rhythm method does not protect because it's
not a barrier method. It is not protect against st
(13:38):
d s, s, t I S and the like. So
if you are not in a committed monogamous relationship, the
rhythm methods should certainly not stand alone. Right. Saying is
if you to read between those lines, I'm saying, use
condoms people. So that led to maybe the ultimate question
(13:59):
here regarding the rhythm method is not so much whether
or not it is effective. UM. But whether or not
it is really just the relic of a bygone era
of birth control before hormonal birth control and contraception was
legal in the United States, Because, according to statistics from
(14:21):
these Centers for Disease Control and Prevention UM, the Rhythm
method use among women fifteen to forty four years old
you have ever had intercourse since from two thousand and
six to two thousand eight, the percent of women who
had ever used it nineteen point point four percent, but
the percent of women who are currently using the Rhythm
(14:41):
method only point five per cent. Yeah, very very low
occurrence of that, but people relying on it. But then, uh,
there was a report. This is also coming from CDC statistics.
If you narrow that population down to younger women, the
(15:02):
Rhythm method might be becoming more popular. Yeah. According to
the CDC, sevent of teenage girls said they use the
Rhythm Method, up from eleven reported in a two thousand
two survey. But nevertheless, condoms withdrawal and birth control pills
were more popular, or I should say, are more popular
among sexually active teens. But for that age group, I
(15:27):
think it's still a call to or a sign that
we need more comprehensive sex education, especially in the United States,
because the rhythm method isn't protecting. Again, it's not protecting
against s T I S. It's a to me, it
is a signaled that we are thinking exclusively about pregnancy
(15:49):
risk and not about the um more dire I would
say s T I risk. Not to say that like
unintended pregnant CE is just like a moot point, but
you know what I mean, like the you can't you
can't forget about the other one as well and call
it call it a day. Yeah. Well, plus I mean, okay,
not to trivialize this, but do you remember being a teenager,
(16:12):
did you have time to like track your menstrual cycle
on a calendar every day, every week, every month. My
mother would get mad at me every day because I
would come home and instead of having a calendar, I
used my hand and sharpie and it was just covered
in things. I thought it was incredibly unladylike. So but
I mean, I guess you could keep your your menstrual
cycle on your hand if you went on to just
(16:34):
wear white gloves over dainty white glove. But again, there's
probably an app for that. But yeah, in terms of effectiveness, though,
the rhythm method is really uh, not where it's at,
but more UM intensive natural family planning methods, the sympto
thermal method, those have had higher rates of success. But
(16:58):
again that's with perfect use. You've got to look at
when you're looking at UM. If you are deciding a
type of natural family planning, be sure to look at
study methodologies and see if it's a typical use, because folks,
humans are forgetful creatures and we slip up a lot
of times. We were not perfect when we um take
(17:20):
our take our pills, or chart our cervical mucus secretions.
I'm intentionally saying that to make Caroline wins. I'm not
making a face. I'm definitely not making a face that
comfortable with your body. Caroline. That's fine. It's just the
idea of mucus in any form wherever it comes out
of take. And I will say that in the future,
(17:42):
we are planning to do an episode on withdrawal because
there have been those studies that have come out in
the past couple of years saying that withdrawals maybe just
as effective as birth control pills, so we need to
take a look at that as well. Things to look
forward to on stuff Mom Never told me you? Is
(18:02):
that a Freudian slip? So uh, send us to your
story people who have tried the rhythm method. If you've
been successful, or if you're listening to this while holding
a baby, um right to us mom stuff at Discovery
dot com. We're head on over to our Facebook page
where you can start a conversation with other listeners. So
(18:25):
before we get to our listener mail, I've got a
quick word from our sponsor that brought you this episode
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(18:45):
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(19:09):
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and check out Paris Is Burning. And now back to
our letters to kick things off. I've got one here
(19:33):
from Audrey on pregnancy sex. This is very appropriate for
this episode. She rights, Hello, ladies. First off, I had
to laugh and that is in all caps. Ha ha ha.
Pardon me about your ladist show topic. I am on
my third pregnancy and number one, I never had that
weird pregnancy confidence that you discussed. It sounds bizarre. Number two,
(19:57):
I never had a glow that intrigued My husband said
my that I was irresistible. Uh. Number three, I never
had a second trimester surgeon hormones that made me feel
recklessly randy. Mostly the first trimester is terrible. The second
trimester you feel better. But I guess it depends on
the woman if you really feel like having sex and
third trimester usually the only reason to have sex is
(20:18):
to induce labor. Something about the semen on the cervix
stimulates labor. I'm sure other women may have had different experiences,
and I'm certain it also depends if it's the first
pregnancy or if you're taking care of toddlers and still
getting up at night. Wow. Yeah, I can see how
that might put a crimping things. My hubby shirts seems
more interested in me. And my friend said her husband
(20:39):
was really into her when she was pregnant, something about
being really proud of creating her new shape. And I
would guess that it all depends on the woman's usual
drive too. She writes, Uh, you'll get a kid kick
out of this CareLine. I can't wait for you gals
to re listen to the show when you're expecting, whenever
or if ever that happens. So, I would say, based
(21:00):
on the emails that we received regarding pregnancy sex, the
one thing that is consistently stood up of everything that
we talked about is men being more attracted to pregnant
women as a number one thing being confirmed. Interesting, take
it away, Caroline, um. So, speaking of like, you know,
everything that we just talked about with the Rhythm method
(21:21):
and natural family planning, we have a letter from Ellen
who actually was writing to request the preceding episode, okay,
and we just totally like knocked it out of the
ballpark and got it before she even Yeah, We're like
you're welcome Ellen, episode for you Ellen. So she says,
I am a Roman Catholic, and I have heard a
(21:42):
lot about natural family planning. I try to be open
minded and non judgmental, so I understand that this method
of preventing or delaying pregnancy is not for everyone. My
request is that you try to incorporate this method into
your podcasts more, just so that your listeners are aware
of it. Too often people did not know it exists
or they don't think it will work. I like this
method because it enables the woman and her partner to
(22:03):
get in touch with her body or with their bodies,
rather than just taking a magical pill or i U
D that will keep a baby away. Also, maybe I'm biased,
but I have read that natural family planning is more
effective and she has in parentheses. Natural family planning doesn't
have to just be for Catholics either, Many couples could
benefit from it. It doesn't disrupt the natural hormonal rhythm
(22:24):
of a woman, resulting in a real period each month,
nor does it require the desynsitization of a condom, So
although the couple will have to limit their amount of sex,
it will be better sex and they will both get
more enjoyment from it. What I would really like to
stress to young adults today is that there is nothing
wrong with our bodies. Periods are not gross, they are
a natural and healthy process. Vaginas and servixes are not disgusting.
(22:46):
And yes, we should get in touch with ourselves and
inspect down there. It's there anyway, and ignoring does you
no good. And I totally Ellen, Yeah, I agree, get
down there, investigate, get to know your body, be happy
with your body, et cetera. You be your own vaginal
Sherlock Holmes wear a hat. So thanks Ellen, and thanks
(23:09):
to everyone who's written into mom Stuff at Discovery dot com.
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more about pregnancy and birth control, do we have so
(23:32):
many articles for you at our website It's how stuff
Works dot com for more on this and thousands of
other topics. Does it how stuff works dot com
Welcome to stuff mom never told you from how Stuff
works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm
Kristen and I'm Caroline. You got rhythm, Caroline, No, me neither,
not at all. Well, we are going to talk about
the rhythm method today. Is that dancing? Um, it is.
(00:27):
It's sex sing, not to be confused with sex thing.
It's actually doing the sex. Yes, okay, but with a
metronome on the bedside table. Yeah, it's. Uh. It's definitely
a method that people employ to either help get pregnant faster,
more efficiently, or to prevent pregnancy in a natural way
(00:50):
that has nothing to do with hormones or devices. Yes,
the rhythm method is also known as the calendar method
and sometimes referred to as periodic abstinence if you are
trying to not get pregnant. Um, And but it is.
It's similar to some other natural family planning techniques that
(01:14):
you might have heard of, though, yeah, it's not exactly
the same as natural family planning and American Pregnancy dot
Org broke it down. Uh. They said that natural family
planning is a collection of methods using your body's natural
and normal functioning to determine the days of the month
you're most likely to get pregnant. It's also known as
fertility awareness, sympto thermal method, ovulation method, or Billing's method.
(01:39):
And uh looking at the simpto thermal method in particular,
that actually combines a couple of different ways of doing
natural birth control quote unquote, So they use the temperature method,
the cervical mucus method, and the rhythm slash calendar method
to combine into one giant track your body adventure. And
(02:02):
these kinds of natural family planning methods UM are popular
for UM a lot of women because they don't involve
any hormonal drugs or any kinds of devices like an
i U D that you would have UM inserted inside
of you that you leave in there. UM and studies
(02:22):
have found that when they are practiced perfectly, Okay, this
is we're talking perfectly. It's like the you know when
you hear about the birth control like taking birth control
pills and it's n effective when you take that pill
every day at the same time, that's perfect use, not
typical use. Uh So, the perfect use for this, according
to UM a two thousand seven German study, this was
(02:45):
with the sympto thermal method leads to an unintended pregnancy
rate of only point six per cent. And so that
seems wow, that that seems great. You don't have to
pay for anything. All you have to do is get
with your partner and make sure that you are each
keeping track of your well. First, you have to calculate
(03:06):
your menstrual cycles and keep track with him for about
twelve months. Keep an eye on that cervical mucus, keep
your you know, your basil, body temperature, and chick. It's okay,
what I'm trying to say. It's a lot more work
than than popping a pill every month. But nevertheless, because
it's not popping a pill, it is worth it for
(03:26):
some women. But for just the straight up rhythm method.
What are we talking about, Caroline? So this is when
the woman tracks her minstrel history, like you said, for
twelve orent months depends. Some people just do it for
half a year. Uh. So they tracked the minstrel history
to predict when she will ovulate, to help determine when
(03:48):
she's most likely to conceive. And this helps you determine
the best days to have sex to get pregnant or
the best days to have sex to not get pregnant. Yeah,
and because uh, a lot of women will have irregular
cycles that some will last longer than others. Ladies, you
know what we're talking about. Um, you you want to have,
(04:11):
like you said, some Caroline, some people will just track
their mentoral cycles for six months. You probably want to
do that for and this is coming from the Mayo Clinic,
for closer to a year because of those varying lengths.
And so once you have collected all of that data,
you then do some adding and subtracting to determine the
(04:32):
longest menstrual cycle and the shortest minstrel cycle and the
window of time between that, which could be a couple
of weeks out of the month. But it involves doing math,
that's says the journalism agents, like you have to you
have to find the length of your shortest minstrual cycle
and subtract eighteen that's the first fertile day of your cycle.
(04:54):
Then you have to find the length of your longest
minstrual cycle and subtract eleven from the total number of days. Uh,
and that's the last frittile day of your cycle. And
I'm not going to go into the math any more
than that because I would confuse myself and I would
confuse our dear listeners. There's probably I'm gonna guess that
there's an app for this. Yes, And actually I was
(05:14):
talking to a woman not long ago who I brought
up the Rhythm Method because I just can't help talking
about the podcast. Yeah. Um, and she she actually used it,
and she was very excited. I wish I could remember
and maybe a listener can fill me in, But she
was very excited about this calendar she bought that in
(05:34):
the back of it had like all of these different
calendars for women consumers of that calendar to track their
minstrel cycles. Yeah, and that would be I could see
how I would be really uh, I don't know, kind
of cool maybe to get that in touch with your body.
But it does take a lot of of work and
(05:55):
a lot of upkeep and a lot of abstinence, which
can be frustrating for couples and is a reason why
it's not always one reason why it's not always so
fool proof. Right. But um. Even though the Rhythm Method
(06:15):
might not be like as popular today, it was a
first and significant step toward family planning when it was
developed by doctor John Rock, who was a Catholic doctor
who thought that parents should have more resources for planning.
Family planning, and him being a Catholic doctor in particular
(06:38):
is significant because a lot of times the Rhythm method
is referred to as the Vatican roulette Um because by
and we'll get into this in more detail, the Catholic
Church's official stance on family planning is that you need
to go all natural. But back to Dr Rock, Yeah,
Rock was very passionate actually about the notion that women
(07:01):
should have control over their own reproductive systems. And as
as a Roman Catholic, he said, you know, you should
have as many children as you have the means to support,
but women should have the power to stop expanding their families.
He actually founded the Rhythm Clinic in nineteen thirty six
at the Free Hospital for Women which is now Brigham
(07:21):
and Women's Hospital, and he would hand out you know,
I say hand out, you know, being frivolous, he would
give patients a scientific prediction dial yeah um. Over at
Harvard Magazine, they have an image of this ninety four
rhythm meter which was almost like it's a combination like
(07:42):
like it reminded me like of a of a most
complicated like avocus, so you could think of had like
a dial with a chart with a calendar. I think
that you needed a PhD. From Harvard to understand the
rhythm meter um. But really, at the time, in ninety
the rhythm meth it was the only like legal form
of birth control in Massachusetts, so you had to, you know,
(08:05):
get in there and do it. But then um, in
the early fifties, Dr Rocks Clinic conducted the first trials
of hormone based contraception that would later be branded as
in Avid UH podcast. All star listeners out there, you
probably know that is the name brand of the first
FDA approved birth control pill available in the United States. Yeah,
(08:26):
going back a little bit, this is writer Paul Vitterbo
in the journal Endeavor from March two thousand four, who
wrote what was the great title of the article I
Got Rhythm, Gershwin and birth Control in the nineteen thirties,
which officially is maybe my favorite study title that I've
ever run across. Do you want to hear a little
bit of the abstract please? Okay, because I couldn't find
(08:49):
the full text and I was very disappointed. Uh, he
writes Gershwin song I Got Rhythm serves here as a
backdrop representing the social context of the interwar yors on
center stage the particular aspect of the history of birth
control the app application of a new theory of ovulation
and contraception. For a short period, women could join ethel
(09:10):
Merman in the refrain I got rhythm, I got my man.
Who could ask for anything more? But the rhythm method
has not lived to its promise? And the play goes on. Yeah,
he writes, the starting in night experiments finally revealed the
biochemical rhythm and women's reproductive cycle, which contradicted the idea
(09:30):
that ovulation and pregnancy could occur at any time. Prior
to this, most people kind of misunderstood ovulation and when
it happened. Uh. This is coming from Case Western Reserve University.
By studying animal behavior, researchers thought women were safe from
pregnancy at the midpoint of their minstrual cycle, which is
(09:51):
in fact when most women are most likely to conceive UM.
So we we get the we get the rhythm method.
And and even though that's only the starting point, like
one one step along the way to developing um hormonal contraception,
it sticks around, particularly in the Catholic community, and I
(10:13):
feel like we need to talk about that because it
is it's a very pertinent point. UM and I am
I am not a Catholic and wanted to know specifically
why the Rhythm method is closely associated with Catholicism and
the church's position on birth control relates directly to Pope
Paul the Six Six Thesists UH nineteen sixty eight Humanitie Vita,
(10:37):
in which he said that contraception was quote intrinsically wrong.
And that was from Timothy Egan writing about it in
the New York Times. But if you look at surveys
now of birth control methods practiced among American Catholics UM
and also just opinion polls UM on Catholics regarding birth control,
a majority of them now out say that the church's
(11:01):
position is a bit outdated. And in addition, a goot
Mocker Institute survey found that nine percent of sexually active
Catholic women have used a birth control other than the
Rhythm method. Because even UM, like when they're talking about
contraception being intrinsically wrong, that includes Stephen condoms. Well, one
(11:24):
Catholic woman who is very very pro Rhythm method, This
is Anne Green over at us Catholic dot org, she
read a really long piece about her own involvement in
When she and her husband were about to get married,
they had counseling and they learned about the rhythm method,
and like now they're crazy about it, and they teach
other couples about that method. And she wrote that in
(11:47):
addition to church approval, Mike and I appreciate the health
aspects of natural family planning, and like we said, that
kind of encompasses a lot of methods, then just the
rhythm methods, right, that's distinct from the rhythm method before
people start furiously typing, Yeah, exactly. Um, she said, more
people hold their food up to close scrutiny is it
organic or natural? In the same spirit, women who practice
(12:10):
natural family planning do not ingest artificial hormones containing possibly
toxic ingredients manufactured in an unknown pharmaceutical plant. Yeah, and
I and I can completely understand that motivation. And and and also,
UH didn't mean to imply earlier that, um Catholic, all
Catholic women have just you know, thrown the uh Pope
(12:31):
Paul the Sixes advice out the window. There's still plenty
of women who Catholic women especially who prefer to stick
with the rhythm method or natural family planning or similar
forms of birth control. UM. But when it comes to
just the rhythm method itself of tracking the menstrual cycle
and paying attention to the calendar, not the whole all
(12:52):
the stuff with the body temperature and the cervical mucus, Uh,
there are UM low lights to those free and natural highlights.
For instance, the birth rate resulting out from the rhythm
method is not very impressive with typical use. Women out
(13:17):
of a hundred will get pregnant via rhythm method in
a year. Yeah, and that's I mean specifying that's unintended pregnancy.
That's not using it to get pregnant, right um. And also,
of course, the rhythm method does not protect because it's
not a barrier method. It is not protect against st
(13:38):
d s, s, t I S and the like. So
if you are not in a committed monogamous relationship, the
rhythm methods should certainly not stand alone. Right. Saying is
if you to read between those lines, I'm saying, use
condoms people. So that led to maybe the ultimate question
(13:59):
here regarding the rhythm method is not so much whether
or not it is effective. UM. But whether or not
it is really just the relic of a bygone era
of birth control before hormonal birth control and contraception was
legal in the United States, Because, according to statistics from
(14:21):
these Centers for Disease Control and Prevention UM, the Rhythm
method use among women fifteen to forty four years old
you have ever had intercourse since from two thousand and
six to two thousand eight, the percent of women who
had ever used it nineteen point point four percent, but
the percent of women who are currently using the Rhythm
(14:41):
method only point five per cent. Yeah, very very low
occurrence of that, but people relying on it. But then, uh,
there was a report. This is also coming from CDC statistics.
If you narrow that population down to younger women, the
(15:02):
Rhythm method might be becoming more popular. Yeah. According to
the CDC, sevent of teenage girls said they use the
Rhythm Method, up from eleven reported in a two thousand
two survey. But nevertheless, condoms withdrawal and birth control pills
were more popular, or I should say, are more popular
among sexually active teens. But for that age group, I
(15:27):
think it's still a call to or a sign that
we need more comprehensive sex education, especially in the United States,
because the rhythm method isn't protecting. Again, it's not protecting
against s T I S. It's a to me, it
is a signaled that we are thinking exclusively about pregnancy
(15:49):
risk and not about the um more dire I would
say s T I risk. Not to say that like
unintended pregnant CE is just like a moot point, but
you know what I mean, like the you can't you
can't forget about the other one as well and call
it call it a day. Yeah. Well, plus I mean, okay,
not to trivialize this, but do you remember being a teenager,
(16:12):
did you have time to like track your menstrual cycle
on a calendar every day, every week, every month. My
mother would get mad at me every day because I
would come home and instead of having a calendar, I
used my hand and sharpie and it was just covered
in things. I thought it was incredibly unladylike. So but
I mean, I guess you could keep your your menstrual
cycle on your hand if you went on to just
(16:34):
wear white gloves over dainty white glove. But again, there's
probably an app for that. But yeah, in terms of effectiveness, though,
the rhythm method is really uh, not where it's at,
but more UM intensive natural family planning methods, the sympto
thermal method, those have had higher rates of success. But
(16:58):
again that's with perfect use. You've got to look at
when you're looking at UM. If you are deciding a
type of natural family planning, be sure to look at
study methodologies and see if it's a typical use, because folks,
humans are forgetful creatures and we slip up a lot
of times. We were not perfect when we um take
(17:20):
our take our pills, or chart our cervical mucus secretions.
I'm intentionally saying that to make Caroline wins. I'm not
making a face. I'm definitely not making a face that
comfortable with your body. Caroline. That's fine. It's just the
idea of mucus in any form wherever it comes out
of take. And I will say that in the future,
(17:42):
we are planning to do an episode on withdrawal because
there have been those studies that have come out in
the past couple of years saying that withdrawals maybe just
as effective as birth control pills, so we need to
take a look at that as well. Things to look
forward to on stuff Mom Never told me you? Is
(18:02):
that a Freudian slip? So uh, send us to your
story people who have tried the rhythm method. If you've
been successful, or if you're listening to this while holding
a baby, um right to us mom stuff at Discovery
dot com. We're head on over to our Facebook page
where you can start a conversation with other listeners. So
(18:25):
before we get to our listener mail, I've got a
quick word from our sponsor that brought you this episode
of stuff Mom Never Told You, and it is Netflix
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com slash mom, you can sign up for a free
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(18:45):
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(19:09):
we mentioned in our episode on Drag Queens. It's really fascinating.
Check it out. Titles are subject to availability, so don't wait,
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and check out Paris Is Burning. And now back to
our letters to kick things off. I've got one here
(19:33):
from Audrey on pregnancy sex. This is very appropriate for
this episode. She rights, Hello, ladies. First off, I had
to laugh and that is in all caps. Ha ha ha.
Pardon me about your ladist show topic. I am on
my third pregnancy and number one, I never had that
weird pregnancy confidence that you discussed. It sounds bizarre. Number two,
(19:57):
I never had a glow that intrigued My husband said
my that I was irresistible. Uh. Number three, I never
had a second trimester surgeon hormones that made me feel
recklessly randy. Mostly the first trimester is terrible. The second
trimester you feel better. But I guess it depends on
the woman if you really feel like having sex and
third trimester usually the only reason to have sex is
(20:18):
to induce labor. Something about the semen on the cervix
stimulates labor. I'm sure other women may have had different experiences,
and I'm certain it also depends if it's the first
pregnancy or if you're taking care of toddlers and still
getting up at night. Wow. Yeah, I can see how
that might put a crimping things. My hubby shirts seems
more interested in me. And my friend said her husband
(20:39):
was really into her when she was pregnant, something about
being really proud of creating her new shape. And I
would guess that it all depends on the woman's usual
drive too. She writes, Uh, you'll get a kid kick
out of this CareLine. I can't wait for you gals
to re listen to the show when you're expecting, whenever
or if ever that happens. So, I would say, based
(21:00):
on the emails that we received regarding pregnancy sex, the
one thing that is consistently stood up of everything that
we talked about is men being more attracted to pregnant
women as a number one thing being confirmed. Interesting, take
it away, Caroline, um. So, speaking of like, you know,
everything that we just talked about with the Rhythm method
(21:21):
and natural family planning, we have a letter from Ellen
who actually was writing to request the preceding episode, okay,
and we just totally like knocked it out of the
ballpark and got it before she even Yeah, We're like
you're welcome Ellen, episode for you Ellen. So she says,
I am a Roman Catholic, and I have heard a
(21:42):
lot about natural family planning. I try to be open
minded and non judgmental, so I understand that this method
of preventing or delaying pregnancy is not for everyone. My
request is that you try to incorporate this method into
your podcasts more, just so that your listeners are aware
of it. Too often people did not know it exists
or they don't think it will work. I like this
method because it enables the woman and her partner to
(22:03):
get in touch with her body or with their bodies,
rather than just taking a magical pill or i U
D that will keep a baby away. Also, maybe I'm biased,
but I have read that natural family planning is more
effective and she has in parentheses. Natural family planning doesn't
have to just be for Catholics either, Many couples could
benefit from it. It doesn't disrupt the natural hormonal rhythm
(22:24):
of a woman, resulting in a real period each month,
nor does it require the desynsitization of a condom, So
although the couple will have to limit their amount of sex,
it will be better sex and they will both get
more enjoyment from it. What I would really like to
stress to young adults today is that there is nothing
wrong with our bodies. Periods are not gross, they are
a natural and healthy process. Vaginas and servixes are not disgusting.
(22:46):
And yes, we should get in touch with ourselves and
inspect down there. It's there anyway, and ignoring does you
no good. And I totally Ellen, Yeah, I agree, get
down there, investigate, get to know your body, be happy
with your body, et cetera. You be your own vaginal
Sherlock Holmes wear a hat. So thanks Ellen, and thanks
(23:09):
to everyone who's written into mom Stuff at Discovery dot com.
You can also find us on Facebook like it's over there,
leave us a comment or tweet us at Mom's Stuff podcast,
and you can also head over to our tumbler and
follow us there It's stuff Mom Never Told You dot
tumbler dot com. And if you would like to learn
more about pregnancy and birth control, do we have so
(23:32):
many articles for you at our website It's how stuff
Works dot com for more on this and thousands of
other topics. Does it how stuff works dot com
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