tagged w/ Sex and Health
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A recent study suggests coitus interruptus is an effective form of birth control. The Daily Beast’s Tracy Quan on why the push for pulling out is flawed.
Is coitus interruptus making a comeback? Margaret Sanger must be spinning in her grave.
If you thought the New York Times was joking when they hyped an academic paper that champions the so-called “pullout method” as the next big thing in contraception, you weren’t alone. The Times report refers to an article—“Better Than Nothing or Savvy Risk-Reduction Practice?”—in the June issue of Contraception, the official journal of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.A recent study suggests coitus interruptus is an effective form of birth control. The... more
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Dozens of previously unseen doctors' reports, diaries and prescriptions show that people visited hospitals with symptoms including depression, inflamed bodies, excessive erotic desire, irrational thoughts and a loss of self control. These symptoms were recognized as lovesickness, and doctors of the Victorian times recommended several methods to sufferers. These included potions, diets, and even bloodletting. The most successful remedy? Sex.
Dr Lesel Dawson of the University of Bristol said: "Love sickness was often quite a 'class crossed' love when a rich person was in love with a servant or a poor girl but they weren't allowed to express that."
Think it worked?Dozens of previously unseen doctors' reports, diaries and prescriptions show that... more
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Antidepressants taken by millions of men could be impairing their fertility by causing damage to the DNA in their sperm.
In 2006, Peter Schlegel and Cigdem Tanrikut of the Cornell Medical Center in New York City reported that two men had developed low counts of healthy sperm after taking two different selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant.
Now Schlegel's team has given 35 healthy men doses of a third SSRI called paroxetine, sold as Seroxat or Paxil, over five weeks, and examined their sperm before treatment and four weeks in.
Superficially, the men's sperm seemed healthy - amounts of sperm and semen, and the shape and motility of sperm, were all normal. But when the team looked at DNA fragmentation in the sperm, using the TUNEL method, a worrying picture emerged. On average, the proportion of sperm cells with fragmented DNA rose from 13.8 per cent before taking paroxetine to 30.3 per cent after just four weeks.
Similar levels of sperm DNA damage have been linked to problems with embryo viability. For example, in couples undergoing IVF, studies have found that where the man has more sperm with damaged DNA, fewer embryos form and those that do are less likely to implant successfully into the woman's uterus.
As a result, fertility specialists regard a fraction of 30 per cent of sperm with DNA damage as being "clinically significant", says Douglas Carrell, a specialist in male infertility at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.Antidepressants taken by millions of men could be impairing their fertility by causing... more
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The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a new regulation that would allow health care professionals and hospitals the right to refuse to provide women access to even the most common forms of contraception - everything from birth control pills to condoms to the "morning after" pill - under the auspices that such contraception is a form of abortion.
The proposed regulation defines defines abortion as "any of the various procedures -- including the prescription and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action -- that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."
HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt said that the new controversial proposed regulations are aimed to protect the physician from having to prescribe birth control if they are morally opposed to contraception. The law already allows doctors to refuse to perform abortions on the basis of conscience but the regulations would extend that privledge to allow doctors to deny patients contraception, by way of legally defining contraception as abortion.
According to the San Francisco Chronical, the "impact of this ruling could be huge," because if it passes, "women seeking health care at a center that receives HHS funds -- and there are nearly 504,000 of them -- will no longer be assured of access to birth control and other contraceptives." The Chronicle adds that "HHS is moving stealthily because it knows that there's no public support for such reactionary regulations -- 73% of voters believe strongly in making contraception easier for women of all incomes to obtain" (San Francisco Chronicle, 8/6).
The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a new regulation that would... more
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Researchers and activists are calling for an increase in male circumcision to prevent HIV infection, particularly in vulnerable countries in eastern and southern Africa.
Several studies have shown strong evidence that male circumcision could prevent HIV infection. Some researchers even claim that it could be 80 % effective in protecting men against HIV infection.
Unfortunately, very little effort has been made to push for more men to go under the knife.
"This is a call to action... to call for male circumcision. It's been two years and still there is not enough money, focus to scale up effort and more needs to be done," said Dvora Joseph, head of the HIV department at Population Services International, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization.
One of the problems surrounding male circumcision is stigmatisation and a lack of eduction. Researchers said two studies in Africa showed the procedure did not reduce sexual pleasure and function, and did not result in any increase in risk-taking behavior among newly circumcised men.Researchers and activists are calling for an increase in male circumcision to prevent... more
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While some seek to counter homophobia by claiming they are born gay, others are insistent it is a choice and that they are proud to have chosen.
Take the website queerbychoice.com, for example. It is unlikely the research will get such a warm welcome from those who subscribe to this school of thought.
So what does this research really tell us?
While some seek to counter homophobia by claiming they are born gay, others are... more
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Unable to swallow food or water during chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Kanga was fed through a stomach tube. Carol Kanga suffered through treatment for a life-threatening case of throat cancer linked to an unlikely source: a sexually transmitted viral infection.
Unable to swallow food or water during chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Kanga was... more
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Sigh. This type of story is precisely why I love/hate Cosmo. Apparently men need to be coerced into wearing protection in the first place. Is that true fellas?
Sigh. This type of story is precisely why I love/hate Cosmo. Apparently men need to be... more
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