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Girls and Women are Fertile; Conservatives Panic

Jill

At issue is an educational book which teaches girls how to chart their fertility cycle. It isn’t a book promoting “natural family planning” as the only acceptable birth control, and it clearly states that protection should be used during intercourse. But it does teach girls how to track their fertility, and how to know which days are more fertile, when they’re ovulating, and so on. I’m with Planned Parenthood’s Vanessa Collins on this: it’s always a good thing for people (teenagers or adults, boys or girls) to know more about how their bodies work, and keeping girls ignorant about their reproductive systems is incredibly unhealthy.

Expert reactions to the book tend to track political views on comprehensive sex education vs. the abstinence-only approach. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, takes the line that better-informed teenagers make better decisions: “Time and again,” she says, “research has shown that giving information to adolescents about reproduction and sexuality will not lead to promiscuity and will only arm teens with information that they need whenever they decide to become sexually active.”

Unsurprisingly, abstinence-only crusaders object to any efforts to actually teach girls about sexuality and their bodies, and believe it’s “inappropriate” to tell them that there’s anything other than an empty mysterious void between their belly-button and their knees:

But Janice Crouse, senior fellow at Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute, disagrees. “I think it is inappropriate. Instead, I think that we need high ideals for our teenagers, to teach them the value of self-control because those are disciplines that you need for your whole life. Providing this type of information says that teenagers are hostages to their hormones.”

If you don’t tell teenagers that they have hormones, they just won’t feel them! If you don’t tell girls that they’re fertile, they just won’t get pregnant! What could go wrong?

35 thoughts on Girls and Women are Fertile; Conservatives Panic

  1. Instead, I think that we need high ideals for our teenagers, to teach them the value of self-control

    Controlling your fertility IS SELF-CONTROL.

  2. I love how these jackasses never miss an opportunity to act like nobody could ever possibly need to know how the organs responsible for making new humans actually work.

    Self-control? Needed on a lifelong basis. Sex-ed? Nobody will ever need to know about that. Everybody’s going to grow up to be either monks or super-breeders.

  3. C’mon, Jill. If we’re reading the same article, I’d say that the majority of comments against giving the book to teens were from very feminist & liberal people!

    I mean, yeah, there’s that one conservative quote you pulled out, but most of the quotes were from people who were like, “I’m all for giving my daughter things that’ll help her be healthy and in control! It’s just that I tried this method and it produced my daughter by accident, because I was a little scatterbrained for it as an adult, so I can’t imagine a teenager doing it any better. I’m going to inform her about more failsafe methods at her age, not because I don’t want her to be able to plan or avoid fertility, but because I want her to actually get the results she intends!”

    Seriously–most “against” quotes had to do w/ the way that this particular method of planning pregnancy interacted with the attention span of someone in that very busy and all-over-the-map time of participating in human activities, not the idea of planning pregnancy in general.

    Can’t you commend this article for that instead of just bringing down the one true conservative cited? 🙁

  4. C’mon, Jill. If we’re reading the same article, I’d say that the majority of comments against giving the book to teens were from very feminist & liberal people!

    …where?

    Maybe I’m just missing it, but here are the quotes I see:

    -Mother of two daughters, no political affiliation mentioned, who thinks the book is good and gave it to her kids.
    -Mother of two daughters, no political affiliation mentioned (only that she supports sex ed, which is about 90% of parents), shared the book with her kids. Voices concerns about teens being vigilant enough.
    -Her 16-year-old daughter, no political affiliation given, voicing similar concerns.
    -Vanessa Cullins of Planned Parenthood supporting the book
    -Statement in the article itself which says, “Expert reactions to the book tend to track political views on comprehensive sex education vs. the abstinence-only approach.”
    -Janice Crowse of Concerned Women for American arguing against the book
    -Carrie Lukas of IWF supporting the book, but primarily because it will teach girls that they need to get pregnant early because their fertility will wane after their 20s.

    What exactly did I misrepresent? I don’t see one “against” quote from anyone who is identified as liberal/progressive. I didn’t include the quotes of two parents because those quotes were clearly put in there for balance (one for, one against) and not because they actually represent the thoughts of most parents. There are no stats or information about which view is most popular. Random parental comments are not representative. However, comments from political and health care organizations are generally vetted by the organization and do represent a broader worldview.

  5. “I think it is inappropriate. Instead, I think that we need high ideals for our teenagers, to teach them the value of self-control because those are disciplines that you need for your whole life. Providing this type of information says that teenagers are hostages to their hormones.”

    Isn’t teaching girls when they’re most fertile most likely to help teach them self-control than leaving them in ignorance, in that they will then know when they’re more likely to become pregnant when they don’t want to so they’ll be less likely to have sex during that time?

    In order to have control, you need information. Control without information is just blind obedience.

    Oh, wait …

  6. Old Bloom County comic:
    Opus is trying to write a column on safe-sex, condoms, AIDS, etc…he panics and only types “DON”T MESS AROUND!”

    I think that’s where these clowns got their ideas.

    oop-ack

  7. Telling kids how their bodies work is good.

    A book that gives them some of the details but says using this for birth control is problematic, could be problematic as it could lead to kids using the similar sounding rhythm method. A technique that is almost as good as the pill sounds truly terrific, but if in practice it is more failure prone because the users find it hard to follow as rigorously as it should be could end up being quite a bit worse than the pill.

    This seems like something cool that should be done in a biology class, but the technique itself sounds better suited to couples in a committed relationship.

  8. From the article:

    Ultimately, over her brother’s objections, the book wound up detailing how teens can determine their most fertile days — but not telling them when sex carries little pregnancy risk. It does note that there’s a way to use charting for birth control but says that this should only be done by adults and stresses that adolescents should never have unprotected sex.

    So it doesn’t actually teach them to use this method to prevent pregnancy, just mentions that it can be used that way.

  9. Yeah, I didn’t mean to say problematic twice, I meant to write “is advanced, could be problematic”

    I think my concern is accidentally misleading kids to think the rhythm method is a realistic alternative to the pill.

  11. “I think my concern is accidentally misleading kids to think the rhythm method is a realistic alternative to the pill.”

    Uh…if a kid can read 240 pages about how her menstrual cycles work and so forth, and still think the rhythm method classic is a realistic alternative to the pill, I think we’ve got a bigger problem with public education than anyone previously thought.

  12. I think my concern is accidentally misleading kids to think the rhythm method is a realistic alternative to the pill.

    It is.

    Research published online last month by the journal Human Reproduction finds that for women who faithfully follow fertility-awareness rules, it is only slightly less effective than the pill.

    Well, except for the part where it requires that the man either abstain or use a condom for part of the month. The pill is obviously superior b/c the man doesn’t have to think about contraception or become involved in it.

  13. Uh…if a kid can read 240 pages about how her menstrual cycles work and so forth, and still think the rhythm method classic is a realistic alternative to the pill, I think we’ve got a bigger problem with public education than anyone previously thought.

    You might be right.

    Research published online last month by the journal Human Reproduction finds that for women who faithfully follow fertility-awareness rules, it is only slightly less effective than the pill.

    I’m not sure if “fertility-awareness rules” is the rhythm method. The article Jill linked to described how fertility charting was different and effective in contrast to the rhythm method which it described as failure prone. Also, I think the issue also entails whether “faithfully follow” is really an effective tactic for people.

  14. The pill is obviously superior b/c the man doesn’t have to think about contraception or become involved in it.

    I think that’s a sexist statement that adds nothing to the conversation.

  15. “Also, I think the issue also entails whether “faithfully follow” is really an effective tactic for people.”

    That depends on how stupid we’re willing to think female people are, doesn’t it?

    Is it really an effective tactic for people to faithfully follow their medical provider’s directions regarding the pill? The storage and use instructions on condoms? The manufacturer’s directions for spermicidal jellies, contraceptive sponges, and all the numerous other things that people use to avoid pregnancy?

    We warn people of the common pitfalls with those methods and point out that they’re not effective if you don’t use them faithfully. We tell people that if they don’t think they can handle all the rigamarole that goes with one method, they should find another. This method doesn’t seem like it warrants some extra-special concern-trolling about whether or not “people” can be trusted with it.

  16. okay, I think men have no part in contraception and female people are stupid and I am a concern troll, and the effectiveness or ease of use or ability to follow the rhythm method or fertility charting vs. the pill has never been a legitimate subject of discussion.

    feel free to ad hominem away at me, i’ll be in another room for the rest of your discussion.

  17. If you don’t tell teenagers that they have hormones, they just won’t feel them! If you don’t tell girls that they’re fertile, they just won’t get pregnant! What could go wrong?

    Nothing! Nothing at all!

    Unless you’re poor and mommy and daddy can’t sneak you into a clinic to correct your little “mishap.”

    I don’t understand why conservatives think that knowing how your body works will turn young girls into sex fiends who just can’t get enough.

  18. i understand how the method could be effective for some women. i still have yet to understand, or to find anything to back up, the FAM proponents’ claims that even women with irregular cycles can use such methods effectively. any such studies floating around?

  19. I don’t understand why conservatives think that knowing how your body works will turn young girls into sex fiends who just can’t get enough.

    You presume a certain competence at rational thought on their part.

    But really, it’s a fear of knowledge: if you keep people ignorant and terrified, they’ll obey. If your daughter doesn’t know how her body works and is scared that kissing a boy will get her knocked up, she’ll never think about or have sex.

    I doubt most of the OMFGWTFBBQ TEH SEX!!!1111 types are, themselves, founts of knowledge about the human reproductive system themselves.

  20. Well, except for the part where it requires that the man either abstain or use a condom for part of the month. The pill is obviously superior b/c the man doesn’t have to think about contraception or become involved in it.

    Which is totally a better idea than just using condoms all the time anyway. Uh, because, uh…

    Well, for some reason! And it is totally more empowerful than being on the pill and being able to have sex when you’re actually horny, because, uh, well, it is! The benefit of having the guy take some responsibility by wearing condoms during your most fertile time, which you totally can’t do when you’re on the pill, because, uh…um…

    Oh wait, you can do that, can’t you.

    Huh.

    Well, anyway, it’s totally worth not having sex when you most want it! Because whether a man is a little inconvenienced or not is totally more important than whether you are.

  21. (Because it obviously bears repeating) FAM is not the rhythm method!

    With that out of the way, I am a fan of – and adherent to – FAM. This book sounds like a great idea for girls learning about their bodies and sexualities, especially with its responsible approach in stressing that adolescents should never have unprotected sex.

    Kidlacan – “i still have yet to understand, or to find anything to back up, the FAM proponents’ claims that even women with irregular cycles can use such methods effectively.”

    I don’t know of any such studies, but I can provide anecdotal support that irregular cycles are not, in and of themselves, barriers to using FAM effectively. The specific rules referred to in the article “that show how women can chart their waking temperatures, cervical fluid and cervical position to avoid or achieve pregnancy” teach you how to observe your body’s signs month by month – it’s not based on averages. I know, for instance, that my cycle tends to have a baseline temperature of about 97.3. When I see a sustained drop over one or two days of about .5 degrees, I know I’m going to ovulate soon. That is about the same time my cervical mucus changes to be thicker, clearer, and stretchier. Even though my cycles are irregular, and therefore these things may occur on different days from month to month (as far apart as 10 days), I can still observe the signs and know what’s going on.

    I agree with Weschler’s conclusion that these rules and practices are too complicated for 99.9% of adolescent girls to use safely as birth control. I’m glad she chose not to include all of the specific rules mentioned above. But for responsible adults, FAM can be very effective (though time-consuming).

  22. The purpose is school is to prepare young people for their adult life, right? So that, when women are housewives and mommies, they can use calculus to understand how much the meat costs at the grocery store and how much gas they need to get to soccer practice in their SUV. Therefore, sex education and information about or bodies that we learn in school isn’t necessarily for use right now, while we are teens. After all, knowing the presidents and history and all that shit isn’t particularly relevant to 16 y/o life, but it may be useful when little man grows up to be big man and wants to be president. Sex education isn’t so teens know now how to fuck safely and with consent and masturbate to please themselves right now, it’s so that when two man join in the bonds of holy matrimony, they will know how to be safe and how to track their fertility and how to plan their family. Of course, such an argument wouldn’t work anyway because a woman’s job is to have as many babies as possible that can grow up to be cheap labor and cannon fodder or senators and CEOs, not actually decide whether she wants children and make choices accordingly.

  24. I’m glad Toni Weschler and “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” are getting press. This is a terrific book, and I say that because it helped me to conceive after several years of trying. I haven’t read the book for teens, but I thought TCoYF was pretty clear that it was a book about how your reproductive system works and how to get pregnant, nothow to reliably avoid getting pregnant.

    I was really embarrased at my age to not know this material ( luteal phase? How come I learned the Krebs Cycle but not this? Is a plant more relevant to my life than my own ovaries?) I’m now recommending this book to all my friends who don’t have time to waste and who may have misinformation based on the overly – simplified way we were taught about human reproduction in high school.

    And I don’t believe this book has anything to do with the rhythm method.

  25. A technique that is almost as good as the pill sounds truly terrific, but if in practice it is more failure prone because the users find it hard to follow as rigorously as it should be could end up being quite a bit worse than the pill.

    It’s actually not hard to follow at all, and not even that time-consuming. Once you get used to taking your temp and checking cervical fluid every morning, you don’t even think about it.

    I have a copy of TCoYF right here on this desk (ttc), and I have to say that although I knew the basics of reproduction, I learned so much more. I think knowledge, especially in this case, is most definitely power.

  26. I actually think this would be a interesting thing to chart in a biology class for a month.

    No fucking way. It’s invasive and embarassing (having every teenage boy in the room knowing when you’re bleeding?) and those poor girls who don’t identify as girls would probably rather dig a hole and die in it than celebrate their baby-making parts.

  27. Count me among those who are glad to see Weschler came out with a book geared toward younger people. I read TCOYF only within the past seven months (after deciding to marry my now-husband), and was stunned at how much there is you CAN know about your own body.

    After considering using FAM to avoid conception, I did, however, decide to return to the pill until we TTC — I’m waaaaay too horny during ovulation, and find myself having fantasy-world thoughts of wanting another baby NOW. Biology’s a strong thing.

    Anyway, a book that explains the cycles more clearly, without encouraging kids to use FAM as their b/c sounds fantastic to me. My daughter’s only 2-1/2, but by the time she’s approaching puberty, I’m sure we’ll buy the fourth/fifth/whatever revision of this book.

  28. The above aside, this is a neat book and probably would be a very cool gift for most teenage girls.

  29. Ignoring the fertility aspects, I think this is valuable because it explains that the discharge you get at different times of month is completely normal. And while I got plenty of sex ed in middle and high school, none of it ever mentioned a thing about cervical mucus.

    Depending on how thoroughly things are explained in this book, I expect many teenagers are plenty smart enough to figure out what signs mean fertility and how to avoid pregnancy based on that. I got the impression from the article that the authors really do think teenagers are just too dumb to figure it out.

  30. “If you don’t tell teenagers that they have hormones, they just won’t feel them! If you don’t tell girls that they’re fertile, they just won’t get pregnant! What could go wrong?

    Why, nothing at all! Don’t you realise that all women secretly long to have babies? Even if they say they don’t? So we’re actually doing them a favor!
    I do love the idea the idea that giving people information that vaguely pertains to sex will automatically cause them to have sex, and the attached assumption that no teenager could POSSIBLY want to have sex without being prompted. Apparently these people sprang from the womb as adults and never experienced adolescence.

  32. I’m excited to see this book. I read TCYOF and really enjoyed it. I have an extremely irregular cycle and yet I always know when to expect my period. 13-15 days after my cervical mucus is really heavy. I find that information so empowering.

    I’ve recommended TCYOF to my sisters-in-law when they were trying to conceive and it worked within about 2 months.

    I had no idea about almost everything in the book – and I had what was considered a very progressive sex ed and biology class. I want to buy this book for every woman I know.

    I never planned to use FAM as a birth control method, but I have a friend who uses it with great success. It’s quite frankly the only method that has ever worked for them – even a vasectomy didn’t work.

  34. I’ve tracked my fertility using a microscope and it really is effective. Used it to conceive my son (worked on the first cycle when I was really irregular), and now use it to keep from getting pregnant. I hate how I feel on birth control so this is a great option for me.

    The microscope method is similar to monitoring mucus and body temperature. Lick a slide first thing in the morning, and check it when it dries. Just before you ovulate the patter goes all ferny.

    As many people have said, this is not the rhythm method. It’s being aware of what your body is doing. I plan to teach this to my daughter when she’s old enough, even though I will encourage her to use condoms should she choose to have sex. I think the trick is encouraging teens to know when they are emotionally ready rather than fall for peer pressure or feeling like “everyone’s doing it”.

  35. Stephanie, I agree with you

    I think the trick is encouraging teens to know when they are emotionally ready rather than fall for peer pressure or feeling like “everyone’s doing it”.

    I wanted to have sex in HS. I was an outsider because I wouldn’t and I was horny as hell. But I knew there was no way I was emotionally ready for it. I was helped by the fact that I lived in a small town and knew exactly what would happen if I slept with any of the guys sniffing around me. I knew the minute I did, they’d drop me like a hot potato and move on to the next “challenge”.

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