It all depends on what you mean by 'natural'
My attention was lately drawn to some descriptions of 'natural' contraception and I thought, well, just because something does not involve an appliance, does that make it natural?
Natural fertility control for women involves: digital thermometer; Menstrual Cycle Chart; Basal Body Temperature (BBT) Chart, i.e. some kind of equipment, not to mention the routine monitoring of temperature. I also imagine that if you do the examination of cervical mucus thing, you need some time to familiarise yourself with what it's supposed to look like at various stages of the cycle, even if you don't invest in a microscope, set of litmus papers and a slide.
I am given to understand that it works for some women and they prefer it to other methods, but I can entirely suppose there is a significant faff factor and situations in which it would be a good deal less than ideal.
As for the male methods, do they not seem to require a certain element of mastering a technique? (even without the Taoist philosophy) - either Coitus Saxonicus... a man squeezes the base of his penis immediately before ejaculation so that the semen is diverted to the bladder' or 'simple breath control & muscle flexing techniques'.
Perhaps I'm unduly cynical, but these seem to involve not only trusting the man to take care of the matter, but that he is competent at these measures.
In Vonda McIntyre's science fiction - Dreamsnake and the Starfarers sequence - she posited 'biocontrol', but this was something that was taught at puberty, was not just about contraception, and there were some instances of its either going wrong or individuals just not being very good at it.
But aren't these all, to some degree or other 'flyin' in the face of nature'?
(Feel there are wider issues there about 'natural' remedies, and those herbal treatments which can actually have adverse effects, because 'herbal' can comprise 'pharmacologically active' but not always in the carefully calibrated way of actual pharma.) This entry was originally posted at http://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2629898.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
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