Sorry condoms, but one recent study has found that one in three young women aged 15 to 25 now rely on withdrawal as their primary form of birth control. This old-school, less-than-scientific method requires the man to "pull out" before
ejaculating in order to avoid any "accidents".
One expert named Dr. Cullins notes that though using withdrawal as one's primary birth control method is "much better than no method at all," it isn't as effective as other forms, and it should only be considered an option when you have "nothing else to use."
In typical use, she says, about 27 out of 100 women will become pregnant each year using withdrawal, though if your partner is super experienced at it, withdrawal "can be [up to 90%] effective for prevention of pregnancy."
However, that still doesn't change the fact that this method still has a
21% rate of knocking someone up (compared with just 13% of women using
different B.C. methods).
If you're doing this method, just make sure it's with a partner you trust to
be monogamous who's also been tested for the 4 million sexually
transmitted diseases you can contract out there. Because in the end, you'll still have to live with the consequences of your choices.
[
Refinery29]