More and more women are shunning traditional forms of contraception such as the Pill in favour of more natural methods.
But would you be brave enough to take a picture if your insides to work out when you are fertile?
One website – www.beautifulcervix.com – is encouraging just that, in a bid to make women more aware of their bodies .
The website www.beautifulcervix.com is encouraging women to take photos of their insides in a bid to make them more aware of their bodies. More and more women are shunning traditional forms of contraception such as the Pill in favour of more natural methods
It can help women either achieve – or avoid - pregnancy by assessing the position and texture of their cervix each day to help confirm where they are in their cycle.
The website contains a brief video of how women can take their own cervical photos. It explains: 'The trick is to focus on something externally and keep holding the shutter button down half way until you move the camera to the opening of the vagina. Then press it down fully while aiming at the cervix.'
The photographs are part of a technique called fertility awareness which works by plotting the times of the month when a woman is fertile or not. Women learn how to record fertility signals, such as body temperature and fluids from the cervix, to identify when it’s safer to have sex.
Fertility awareness is an approved method of contraception – unlike the withdrawal method – but only used by around one per cent of women.
A recent study from Duke University in the U.S. found that 31 per cent of women aged 15 to 24 have used withdrawal as a form of birth control at least once.
Of those who used it, nearly 21 per cent were faced with an unintentional pregnancy, compared with just 13 per cent of women who used other types of contraceptives.
The idea behind it is to help women either become – or avoid - becoming pregnant by assessing the position and texture of their cervix each day to help confirm where they are in their cycle
Commenting on the research at the time, Dr Angela Chen, an associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at University of California, Los Angeles, also stressed the importance of young women knowing their menstrual cycle as an added form of contraception.
'The woman really needs to understand her menstrual cycles -- when she is most fertile -- and most women do not,' she said.
WHAT IS NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING AND IS IT RELIABLE?
If the instructions are properly followed, natural family planning methods can be up to 99% effective, depending on what methods are used. This means that one woman in 100 who use natural family planning will get pregnant in one year.
• But natural family planning will be less effective if it's not used according to the instructions – it takes commitment and time to achieve 99 per cent effectiveness.
• Women have to keep a daily record of their fertility signals, such as temperature and the fluids coming from your cervix – it takes three to six menstrual (monthly) cycles to learn the method.
• Fertility signals can be affected by factors such as illness, stress and travel.
SOURCE: NHS Choices
The NHS says there are three different methods women can use in combination to increase the effectiveness of natural family planning. These are: calculating where they are in their menstrual cycle, taking daily readings of body temperature and monitoring changes to your cervix, specifically the secretions from the cervix.
Now, www.beautifulcervix.com is taking this one step further by encouraging women to see what they look like on the inside – and perform internal examinations of themselves.
Information on the website says: ‘While menstruating, the cervix may feel firm and low… and angled to one side slightly.
‘As ovulation nears, the rising levels of oestrogen cause the ligaments that attach the uterus to the pelvis to tighten and pull the uterus up further into the body.
'Hence, the cervix gradually draws deeper in the vagina and is often harder to reach near ovulation. '
It adds that after ovulation, oestrogen levels falls and the cervix usually drops down again, with a more firm feeling.
Women can also ascertain where they are in their cycle by checking secretions – which vary in colour and consistency during the month.
NHS Choices explains that as a woman becomes more fertile, secretions become clearer and wetter.
When using fertility awareness, women learn how to record fertility signals, such as body temperature and fluids from the cervix, to identify when it's safer to have sex
Jane Knight, a fertility nurse specialist at Fertility UK, stressed it is imperative for a woman to know the length of her cycle – something that can take up to six months - if fertility awareness is to be successful.
She told MailOnline: ‘Many fertility apps have not been tried and tested and that those based purely on what day a woman is in her cycle could be ‘disastrous’ if a woman is trying not to get pregnant.’
She added that websites such as www.beautifulcervix.com did not need to be used as part of the fertility awareness method if a woman did not feel comfortable doing it.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2458911/Forget-Pill-Photographing-CERVIX-latest-form-birth-control--brave-enough.html#ixzz2hiXRODkh
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