Smart. Sexy. Fun.
Love and Sex
1 I Forgot to Take my Birth Control Pill, What Should I Do?
Sex
2 Sex Myth: If the Woman Is on Top, She Can't Get Pregnant
Sex
3 Forget the Pill? Facts About Nonhormonal Birth Control
Sex
4 Birth Control Pills: How Do They Compare?
Sex
5 Health Benefits of the Pill
Poll
6 What Was Your Favorite Birth Control Method of '08?
Advice
7 You Asked: My Period Is Late — Am I Pregnant?
Love and Sex
8 Do Tell: When Did You First Get on the Pill?
Sex
9 Do You Know the Pill's History?
Sex
10 Sex Can Hurt
Sex
11 Are Occasional Breaks From the Pill a Good Idea?
Sex
12 Myths About the Pill: First Five
News
13 Is Cosmo's Crime Just Not Changing With Times?
Poll
14 What Form of Birth Control Do You Use?
Love and Sex
15 Virginia Pharmacy Won't Carry Contraception
period
16 Best Birth Control Pills to Keep Emotions Even
Pregnancy
18 Sunday Confessional: I Didn't Tell Him the Condom Broke
As women celebrate more than 50 years since the release of the birth control pill, those who feel the negative side effects of hormonal birth control have missed out on the party. Hormonal options range from the ring to the patch to the pill, but what if you want to avoid the consequences, including mood swings, weight gain, decreased sex drive, or other side effects? You're in luck — different Read more
There's a new study out that gets more specific on how the pill impacts who you're attracted to — and it's bad news for your sex drive. According to the study, women on the pill choose uglier men who are worse at sex but better at long-term relationships. The birth control pill evens out hormones and causes women to choose men who are more similar to them, a safer choice, and more "father" Read more
Pharmaceutical company Qualitest Pharmaceuticals has slacked on the quality part of its name, causing a recall of birth control pills manufactured at its factory. Last week, the producer of generic drugs admitted that a packaging mix-up put pills in the wrong places. The company said it didn't cause any immediate health danger, unless you count the risk of unintended pregnancy. The recall notice Read more
According to a new report, concern about weight gain is one of the biggest reasons women quit taking the pill. Then some of these women are getting pregnant, which is a bit counterproductive if you're trying to not pack on the pounds. But the myth that the pill causes weight gain is just that, a myth, fueled by horror stories and false information, says the lead author of the paper. Studies show Read more
This week, The Wall Street Journal reported on something I've heard before: taking the pill could change which guys turn you on. Breaking down the intricacies of personal taste to basic science, evolutionary psychologists and biologists have produced studies demonstrating that a woman is attracted to the scent, or pheromones, of men who have different immune systems than she does, perhaps since Read more
The Pill is still queen of contraception, according to new research from the National Center of Health Statistics. The center interviewed 7,356 women ages 15 to 44 over two years and compared the results to similar surveys conducted in 1982, 1995, and 2002. As it was in 1982, the pill is still the most popular choice among women looking to prevent pregnancy, but whether you're more likely to use Read more
Beyaz is the new birth control pill that contains prenatal vitamins. That's not a bad thing from a health standpoint, but it is counterintuitive for a pill taken to prevent pregnancy. Hey, who knows what women want? One day they don't want a baby; the next day they do. In its commercial, Beyaz illustrates the choices women face in the great retail store of life. Young women are tempted by grad Read more
The FDA approved a new birth control this Fall that's identical to Yaz (made by the same company) with one difference: it contains folate, the prenatal must have for "women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant." It's called Beyaz, which sounds like a verb or a SFW way to write b*tch. Putting prenatal vitamins in birth control makes perfect sense from a public health standpoint. The Read more
The pill has celebrated its 50th birthday all year, but 1960 was not the year it entered the US market; it was the year the FDA approved it as a form of birth control. It had been around throughout the '50s and prescribed to a suspiciously large number of women for "severe menstrual disorders." Yet nobody, not even The New York Times, publicly acknowledged its birth-controlling powers until Read more
While the pill celebrates 50 years of blocking sperm, a new study says it makes women more possessive and paranoid about their partners' fidelity. I'm not down with women using periods as an excuse to behave badly — or men using it to dismiss emotions — but anyone who's ever had a bad birth control experience would probably agree it can ambush the mood. The study does illustrate one Read more
