- In Friday’s Guardian, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett explores why so many young people aren’t using contraception. Nearly everyone she spoke with for the article is British – including SMCR’s Holly Grigg-Spall — but numbers are similar in the U.S. A study conducted by Duke University last year found that 31% of young women in America aged between 15 and 24 had relied on the withdrawal method at least once. The English women don’t have the American excuse of abstinence-only sex education: Most could recall the Johnny Condom theme song from their school days!
- Warning for women who take birth control pills to clear up their skin: the pill also commonly causes melasma, patches of darker skin that appear on the cheeks, forehead, nose or upper lip.
- Whew! Women can keep the vote: No evidence that hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle impact political and religious beliefs. (This study was conducted in response to the one that provoked national outcry in the U.S. in the fall 2012 election season; we did not write a blog post about it, but we did mention it on Facebook.)
- Figures from the Department of Health in Britain show that abortion rates among women in their 30s and 40s have been steadily rising since 2001. British Pregnancy Advisory Service believes the increase is because women in this age group believe they are no longer fertile and do not use contraception.
- The SILCS diaphragm, a new single-size diaphragm marketed under the trade name Caya®, will soon be available from Health Canada. Let’s hear it for safe, hormone-free contraception.
- Speaking of safe, hormone-free contraception, fertility awareness methods are gaining ground.
- Discussion of menstrual leave is in the news again, as the question is raised by a short piece in The Atlantic about menstrual leave in Asian countries. The author, Emily Matchar, notes, “It’s no coincidence that several of the countries with menstrual leave also have lackluster sick leave policies—neither Japan nor Korea mandate paid sick leave for non-serious illness. But then again, neither does the United States.” (We’ve written about menstrual leave at re:Cycling in 2010 and again earlier this year.)
- Looking for an alternative pain reliever for menstrual cramps? A study recently published in Caspian Journal of Internal Medicine has found thyme oil to be surprisingly effective. Both Jezebel and Inquisitr published articles about the study, claiming it demonstrated that thyme oil is better than either ibuprofen or other NSAIDs, but the actual study reported that “[r]eduction of pain severity was not statistically significant between the two medications, however it was significant for each drug compared with placebo.” Moral of the story: Read health care news stories carefully.
- Citing the example of menstruating Reddit users graphically discussing periods on the site’s homepage, Flavorwire says menstruation is having a moment — and it’s about time. But Policy Mic reminds readers that comedians who make period jokes — and are appreicated for it — are rare. Of course, one of their outstanding examples is SMCR’s Chella Quint! Represent!
- HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease: More than two-thirds of healthy Americans have one or more strains of
human papillomavirus either in their skin, vagina, mouth, or gut. But only four percent of participants had either of the two strains responsible for most cervical cancers.
