14 methods of contraceptives!
I was very excited when I was asked for an interview. I have been trying a job for a while and I have not been successful. When I told my parents, they were super excited, but when they asked me about the nature of the job, their excitement suddenly died down! Well can I blame them? Not really I know they worry that this job will be misunderstood in our society.
Basically I have been asked for an interview for the position of an information officer for young people. This sounds noble what is the problem? The problem is that the information these young people come and ask for is about sexual health! About how to avoid pregnancy, how to avoid Sexual Transmitted Infections (STI), how to use contraceptives, and what are contraceptives?! The service also includes counselling for people who are sexually active. This reminded me of a post I read by Natalia long time ago. And I found myself feeling sad thinking about how many young people desperately need this service and have no way of getting this? how many women and men found themselves facing the unimaginable.
To answer any comments about people who get pregnant or get infected because they are sexually active deserve it, I will quote for the millionth time, something that was said by Jesus or Sayidna Isa “Let he who has not sinned, throw the first stone”.
Maybe the nature of the topic can shed a light to my excitement, I am rebellious by nature and anything that is considered controversial or taboo is dangerously alluring to me! My friends were amused by the position, making all sorts of jokes, and while I did not expect this reaction, I found myself becoming even more excited about it.
I was very amused walking in the clinic reading the different posters, and looking at the different ads. It is kind of cool how society here is more realistic about the needs of young people. I define myself as a youth worker and I always think of myself as open minded, and non-shockable.
In Jordan we lack sexual education, sex or even masturbation is something that most people do at some point of their lives yet everyone ignores it! I have mentioned before that in our school the teacher skipped the chapter because it is it is considered Rude! (iliet adab!) I really get so irritated whenever I remember this stupid teacher! I mentioned that this chapter was taught just before girls chose Art stream or science stream. Girls in Science stream would study it again at the final year, tawjihi, but girls in Art stream would never know anything about it. So we are talking about generations and generations of wives and mothers who have no idea to avoid getting pregnant. I wonder if this silly woman knows how many lives has she wrecked because of her stupidity?
Now some facts before I go to my class:
1- There are fourteen ways of contraception and protection against STIs
a. male condom
b. female condom
c. combined pill
d. progestogen only pill
e. contraceptive injection
f. contraceptive patch
g. implant
h. intrauterine device (IUD)
i. intrauterine system (IUS)
j. diaphragm with spermicide
k. cap with spermicide
l. female sterilisation
m. male sterilisation (vasectomy)
n. natural family planning
2- Withdrawal is not a method of contraception. There is semen containing sperm present at the tip of the penis as soon as it is erect. And these little bastards are very dangerous because they are very resilient and they can swim!
3- As of December 2003, 334 cumulative cases of AIDS, with 67 deaths, had been reported to the National AIDS Program. according to USAID
4- According to Hind Mango in an article that appeared at Jordan time in 1998 many of Jordan’s AIDS patients are secretly battling the killer virus in a conservative society that has long shunned them. Local doctors supervising victims of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS say many of their patients lead miserable lives because they cannot even tell families of their infection with the global epidemic. The same article quoted Dr. Waleed Sarhan saying: “ we have had some very nasty reactions in the past when an AIDS victim attempted to tell family members,” said psychiatrist Walid Sarhan. “ In one incident, medical staff at a local hospital refused to treat a dying Jordanian AIDS patient who had come from France to see his family. When he went to the hospital to be given the necessary injection, the nurses and doctors panicked and refused to help”.
BE safe, do NOT be a victim, please learn as much as you can.
got to run to class!
Hello, Madas! I hope you will also list abstinence as the only 100% effective method to avoid pregnancy, STDs and a broken heart. Also a strong sense of identity that is not altered by a sex-centric media.
On the other side of teh coin, my mother worked for Planned Parenthood from the time I was a teenager. My brothers and I cringed from TMI at the dinner table, getting condoms in our Christmas stockings, being asked to take pregnant teenage girls to the next state for a quick abortion before they would be back from school.
It was later discovered that their ‘over the border’ abortionist had a fake license and was anesthetizing the girls and raping them before the abortions.
PP didn’t want too many people to know that the majority of their teenage clients were involved in sex with older men…their organization was getting rich (although officially ‘non-profit’) by supporting sex against the law, where men were obviously using girls for their pleasure and calling it ‘consensual’.
Give them the knowledge, Madas, but encourage them to stay with their cultural version of chastity until marriage. And tell the guys, too.
It was great you included Jesus’ words, btw. Don’t forget he added further dignity to this same woman saying: “Go, and sin no more”: ie respect yourself, your body, and me, and live out the beauty of the life you were made to live.
Hi Kinzi, it is always nice to find you on my comments list
yeah you are right, i think our culture is not bad after all. But it should not becoime too good that there is no place for mistakes in it. After all we are made to make mistakes.
Thank you for the rest of the quote. I love this Quote, i find myself ALWAYS using it. Now i know the rest of it.
have a nice day
It’s always nice to find a post from Miriam! You have a good balance between loving your culture and wanting the best for it…making corrections and improvements without leaving the best behind.
Yea, I love Jesus’ words. I did a study on the words he spoke to women, his ability to get right to their hearts (and minds) was amazing.
Hi Madas,
I am happy to see your new post!
Well, you will hear no jokes about this potential job from me. I applaud your interest and excitement, and I hope that you will be offered the position! I will admit that I laughed out loud when you described sperm as “those little bastards”, though! 
I read Natalia’s post and some of the comments there. I must say that I am extremely impressed with what she wrote! I thought that I was reasonably knowledgeable about matters of sexuality, but I was not aware that women were having surgery to try and reconstruct their hymens. I suppose that my ignorance might be attributable to the fact that the surgery may be non-existant in the U.S. (at least I have not heard of it here). I have, however, heard of honor killings. I think that it is an incredible hypocrisy that a man can celebrate his own sexual conquests, and yet be willing to kill his own sister if she is even slightly sexually adventurous!
I am sorry to hear that people infected by HIV are so poorly treated in Jordan, but I am not surprised. Back in the 1980’s attitudes were much the same here. AIDS was seen by many as a justly deserved punishment for homosexual men. Of course, there has been a wide increase in the number of infections among hetersexual men and women in the years since. Still, dispite all the warnings and attempts to educate, many people, especially young people, here in the U.S. are still failing to use condoms. Part of the problem is the emphasis on teaching abstenance in communities that are dominated by religious fundamentalists. I have no problem with abstenance. It is certainly the only 100% effective method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, but it just doesn’t represent realistic thinking on the part of these so called sex educators. The fact is that the majority of young people in the U.S. are going to engage in sexual activity and it would be best if they were educated about all the available options to prevent pregnancy and to protect their health!
thank you for your comment David, I had to go back to read about the bastards. I was very serious when i wrote it and now when i read it i found myself laughing as well! I suppose i am in a different mood now
I agree with you on the abstenance. I mean it is great that people would follow that, especially in our society. However what happenes to married couples? who HAVE and WANT and NEED to engage in sexual activities? don’t they deserve to know how to manage their lives and not get pregnant everytime they are in a loving mood? Lets put STIs aside for a bit ( although it is not realistic, how about pregnancy? the whole point is that i would like people to have the choice, to know how their bodies work.
Hey Mariam, just wanna clarify that not all contraceptives protect against STDs, like the pills or the IUDs, even the male condom which protects against HIV might still not be 100% protective against other STDs like herpes.
For contraception it’s always better to combine 2 methods, and as you said withdrawal is highly unsuccessful the failure rate is about 20%
Thank you for the clarification
Dr. Hareega, it would be most useful if people like you, young and open to new changes would help in spreading the word.
Mariam, I am wondering if all modern methods of birth control and protection are readily available in Jordan? If so, would a teenage girl or boy need their parents permission to buy them? Also, what are the views about abortion in Jordan? Is it legal and available? Personally, I think that abortion is a very unfortunate event, unless the mother is the victim of rape or incest. However, I believe that abortion should be legal and available, at least in the first two trimesters of pregnancy. In the third trimester, a baby can survive outside the mother, although it may need the help of doctors and nurses, so I feel very uneasy about a third trimester abortion. The topic is a real lightning rod here in the U.S., as you may know.
Sorry for all the questions. I guess that I am “driven by curiosity”, too!
wow David, these are all good questions, i don’t know the answers for most of them, but i will find out for you. and write about it. I won’t say what i think because i am not sure of my answers. Stay tuned!