Take the time to read through these 5 common myths and answer the questions on your sheet about 2 of them.
1)
The Myth: The Hymen tears after the first time a woman has sex.
The Fact: The Hymen is a border of thin skin just inside the vagina. Many women tear their Hymen before the first time they have sex through activity (sports, horseback riding, doing the splits), or during their first period. Some women never tear their Hymen at all, even with sex. Oftentimes the reason the Hymen is damaged at all during penetration is due to a lack of arousal. During arousal, the vagina becomes lubricated and increased blood flow makes the skin stretchy, both of which reduces the likelihood of tearing. Like all skin, the Hymen grows back if damaged, but usually this regrowth is smaller and more stretchy than the initial growth. Women at any stage of life, and with any amount of sexual activity can have intact Hymens.
2)
The Myth: Taking Plan-B (the emergency contraceptive pill) is bad for your health and fertility.
The Fact: Plan-B is a pill that causes your period to happen and is used as emergency birth control after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. Plan B causes no short- or long-term impacts to a woman’s fertility, or heath in general. Plan B uses hormones natural to the body and causes a normal period. You can take Plan-B as many times as you need over your life with no worry about a drop in fertility. Plan-B does need to be taken within 5 days of potential pregnancy. Everybody is also different and can react in different ways, so Plan-B only has a 98% recorded effectivity rate. You also need to wait at least 3 weeks after taking Plan-B before using it again. Additionally, many prescription medications and medical conditions prevent Plan B from working correctly. Plan-B does not cause abortion, and will not work if you are already pregnant. Plan-B also has a body-weight restriction of 180lbs. If you are over that weight, then you require a different pill called ELLA.
3)
The Myth: You can’t get pregnant while on birth control.
The Fact: No form of birth control works 100% of the time. Most methods work 95-98% of the time. Most birth control works by changing your hormones and anything that disrupts your normal hormone function can disrupt your birth control. Many medical conditions and medications can do this. Antibiotics in particular will stop your birth control from working for the whole time you take, and for a few days after. Eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia can also stop your birth control from working. This is especially dangerous because people with eating disorders are at a higher risk of miscarriage and having babies with birth defects.
4)
The Myth: All Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STI’s) are gross and scary, so I’d know if my partner or I had one.
The Fact: Like so many diseases, we can be carriers without showing symptoms (think of COVID).You can share your STI with other people without knowing you even have it. Some conditions, like Syphilis, can even remain dormant in the body for up to a year before you experience symptoms. Also, while we call these conditions ‘Sexually Transmitted’ because that’s the most common way to get and spread them, some can be transmitted in the same way as other diseases. It is important to get tested regularly, and especially after having a new sexual partner, to see if you have an STI. Not all STI’s are big deals though. Herpes is relatively low impact, and easy to manage. About 50% of adults have herpes simplex A and about 15% have simplex B.
5)
The Myth: You get yeast infections from having a dirty/unclean vagina.
The Fact: The vagina is naturally full of yeast that is good and healthy for you. A yeast infection happens when a change in the vagina allows bad species to grow and cause pain, itching, and rash. Unfortunately, developing a yeast infection is easy and common because many things (like diet, stress and sex) can disrupt the vagina. The most common causes of yeast infections however are an infected partner, a recurring disruption to vaginal pH (such as frequent douching), and/or not finishing a treatment for a previous infection causing it to come back. If you find yourself getting yeast infections with regularity, these conditions are a good place to start your investigation. Because most of the penis is not a mucous membrane like the vaginal it’s not irritated in the same way, so most men who contract yeast infections never realize they have one and can repeatedly spread and re-infect sexual partners over and over again.