Enfascinated: Cooperative Birth Control

Dear Jodi shared with us this recent Sunday her experiences with a new form a birth control. She and her boy Jay are on their fourth month of the experience. The method involves charting many physical, personal and other traits over the course of the month. There are three main things that ones tracks when practicing condom free, hormone free birth control.

First: monitor vaginal fluids. viscous and slippery means less fertile, tacky and gooey means more fertile

Second: take your temperature (in your mouth). Lower body temperature means less fertile. Temperature rises by about .6 degrees during and after ovulation. Since ovulation lasts for no more than three days, it is safe to have sex after three days of a .6 degree rise in basal temperature.

Third: Classic cycle watching. The days two weeks before the period are the danger danger zone. Using a calender or something more reliable than memory, find out exactly how long your cycle is (any where from 20 to 40 days) and pinpoint (plus or minus a week) when you are ovulating.

This method is outlined in the book A Cooperative Method of Natural Birth Control. (http://www.amazon.com/Cooperative-Method-Natural-Birth-Control/dp/0913990841) The argument is that any one method isn't completely reliable, but the three together, along with the awareness that comes with carefully monitoring any natural process, can reliably insure recreational sex. Go Sex!!

Sidenote: During the talk, it came out that we want to know more about human relationships with the moon. Any self proclaimed expert is invited to provide a paragraph on why this is a fascinating subject.