8 Myths about Sexual Health Busted ...

The vagina has a system in place to clean itself and it doesn’t require external help from you to do its job. Douching is in fact detrimental to the health and hygiene of your vagina. It can upset the delicate balance in the vaginal region and spread infections into the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tube. Scary, isn’t it?

No, they are not! It is impossible for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and infection to survive outside the human body for so long. And when you throw in the cold surface of a toilet seat, the chances go down even below impossible. Another thing – STDs and infections cannot be transmitted by urine either. It’s safe to say that you can piss in a public bathroom without being overly paranoid.

Several clinical trials have been conducted to test the veracity of this claim and yet there is inconclusive proof to suggest any co-relation between weight gain and oral contraceptives. However, one kind of contraceptive that is known to specifically cause weigh gain is injectable depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), which is commonly referred to as the birth control shot. According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas, birth control shots caused an average weight gain of 10 pounds over a period of three years.

Says who? Not the guys that practice medicine for a living, that’s for sure. This is another old wives’ tale. The likelihood of getting pregnant the first time you have sex is just as high as any other time. The moral – have protected sex no matter what.

And why not, may I ask? IUDs or Intrauterine devices help prevent pregnancy for up to 12 years. It is a convenient form of birth control since it doesn’t require you to be dependent on pills. And it is just as safe and effective for adolescent women as it is for adults. And since the former is at higher risk of unintended pregnancy IUDs prove to be a much better long term birth control alternative.

You wish! Although it is unlikely to get pregnant during the menstrual cycle, it’s not a possibility you can rule out so easily. In the case of women who have long periods, it can overlap with the start of their ovulating phase. This means, even though they have their periods, they could still be fertile.

Again, not true! Emergency contraceptives are not meant to induce abortion. If you take the ‘morning-after’ pill, also popularly known as Plan B, after you are already pregnant, it will not terminate the pregnancy.

If you happen to be living in one of these nine states - California, Maine, Hawaii, Alaska, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Washington, New Mexico, and Vermont – you can buy an emergency contraceptive pill no matter what your age. In the rest of the states, women above 17 years can buy the pill without a prescription.

There, is your mind at rest now? Feeling slightly better? Which of these sexual misconceptions have been running your life for some time now? How do you feel now that you are finally able to sort fact from fiction?

Top image source: hpb.gov.sg