Maybe I’m just young and overly optimistic, but ever since I became sexually active three years ago, this is the only birth control my boyfriend and I have used, and I’ve never even had a pregnancy scare. I know about the pre-cum thing, but from what I’ve read, the chances of getting pregnant from that are low. I always see the pull-out method being trashed online, lol.
It’s the times you don’t pull out that get ya.
Anecdote versus data.
You are one person with an anecdote, the medical advice is based on data from thousands of people.
The pull-out method is about 80% effective. About one in five people who rely on the pull-out method for birth control become pregnant.
True, but isn’t ~80% still statistically pretty effective? I’m assuming that statistic refers to typical use, not perfect use. For comparison, condoms have about an 87% effectiveness rate with typical use.
Would you ever play Russian Roulette? 80% effective means one bullet in a five-chamber revolver, spin, and pull the trigger.
Medical advice is also to not rely only on condoms.
You do you.
Valid point.
Those numbers seem very heavily skewed in your favor - and even then with them, you’re willing to gamble that you’re not the 1 out of 5? Having a kid is a life-altering thing, a “You’re probably not getting the job you dreamed of or live where you want” type of life alteration at a young age - or at least you’re putting those things off for decades. I mean, you do you I guess, I’d prefer to know what I’m getting into first.
The anecdote could also have some unfortunate causes, like one partner not being very fertile
If you rely on nothing but pulling out, your odds of pregnancy are about 22%/yr. This means that in 3 years, your odds of getting pregnant were 52.545%.
That’s the neat part aint it. Even for condoms, probability is only 99% for each time you do it. That means that it’s 99% chance you won’t get pregnant the first time. Then 98% safe 2 times having sex, then 96% safe if you have sex 4 times, and on and on. That’s with a good birth control option. The “pull out method” is not a good one. Once you’re maybe okay, and that’s a strong maybe. Every time beyond that is a gamble that rivals a vegas casino.
So yeah, those odds gotta be pretty damn good to be able to trust it.
It’s not quite as bad as what you say. After 50 times using condoms, your odds of condom failure aren’t 50%; they’re 39%.
Also, I’m pretty sure that 1% failure figure is per year, so it accounts for the average number of encounters per year. So it’s more like in 50 years of using condoms, you’d have a 39% chance of causing a pregnancy.
But still, it’s way riskier than I would be okay with. Always use multiple forms of contraception, kids.
Honestly didn’t know the 99% was per year. My math was misleading because of rounding, but I was doing 0.990.990.99*0.99
Three reasons: It’s failure-prone even without human error. It’s especially prone to human error. And it does nothing to prevent the spread of STIs.
It’s also less pleasurable than most alternatives.
Condoms are cheap or free. Please get some.
Can’t disagree more on the less pleasurable part.
Because it’s not reliable. Your personal experience matters very little in this case since it works until it doesn’t and if you effectively want to prevent a pregnancy that’s not enough.
It’s ineffective because it’s ineffective.
Your personal results could be indicative of an as yet undiagnosed fertility issue rather than a failure of the research communities assessment of its effectiveness.
Congratulations on the baby!
I know a couple that became parents in their early twenties by relying on the pull out method.
You’re statistically lucky. That’s about it.
Also I exist as a testament to the fact that pulling out doesn’t work very well.
Or one of them is sterile?
It is absolutely effective, just not effective enough if you don’t plan on getting an abortion when an accident happens.
