Teenagers Have Rhythm, and They Know How to Use It

A recent survey revealed that an increasing number of teenagers girl claim to be using the rhythm method as birth control.

I am having trouble deciding what to discuss with this news. Here are topics I am thinking about:

(1) Being deprived of access to birth control that actually works, teenagers are forced to employ a method that only sorta works sometimes.

(2) Teenagers having sex is clearly not a spontaneous thing, as least for the rhythm section of the teenage population. This requires planning and a calendar.

(3) Can we stop pretending that teenagers are not having sex now?

(4) Abstinence-only sex education is stupid.

Putting these topics aside for a moment, I have a story. When I was in college, a (male) friend of mine asked me if a girl could get pregnant "every time she had sex." I was dumbfounded by this guy's ignorance of female reproductive biology, and I explained it to him. (BTW, we were on a road trip at the time. Kinda made the rest of the trip a little *awwwwk--waaaard.*) To that end, I am at least pleased that these young ladies have a sufficient understanding of how their bodies work to make these decisions.

Okay. Let's start with number 3. Teenagers have sex. Not all teenagers, but enough of them that we should really stop acting like it is rare or surprising or going to stop.

Now, let's combine numbers 1 and 4 and start giving these young people the information and technology they really need to avoid STDs and unwanted/unplanned pregnancies. Clearly, the decision to keep them ignorant and ill-equipped is not stopping them from having sex, it's just forcing them to take risks and get more creative. (FYI, suggestions to keep people ignorant and ill-equipped will get a "Nay" vote from me every time.)

Finally, number 2. These young people employing the rhythm method are PLANNING on having sex and are trying to avoid pregnancy. You may have moral objections to their activities, but you must salute their maturity. OK, some of you will not salute their maturity, but come on. You have to admit this is more impressive than the "we didn't mean to" or "we only did it once" stories that persist when an unplanned pregnancy occurs. Though I do not actually believe those stories, I think there is a perception that teenagers having sex occurs spontaneously and without calculation. This shows that is not the case, at least for these young ladies.

One final note (because this blog is really about changing how we handle sex-education and the integration of birth control): If we want to reduce the number of abortions by teenagers, the best thing we can do is reduce the number of teen pregnancies. Kudos to these teens for trying to accomplish this using the rhythm method, but can we please dig our heads out of the sand and give these kids some condoms?