A few months ago I was talking with a friend of mine about preferred forms of birth control. He and his wife had tried just about everything on the market. “The Pill” (the several forms his wife tried) caused her to start gaining weight and throw her into serious mood swings…condoms were uncomfortable…as was a diaphragm. So he told me they decided to use the withdrawal method with something a little extra. He said he would masturbate in the morning and then again at night. Thinking this would pretty much clean out his pipes and thus if anything leaked while he and his wifey were making with the love they wouldn’t have to worry too much. Me, knowing they were financially ok and would support a baby should an accident occur just kind of shrugged it off a nothing big.
Then the other day another group of friends, these guys older then I, were talking at the bar. One of the guys is a few days out from getting a vasectomy and he was talking to the others about their experiences. The one that stuck out in my mind was a friend explaining that while the pain and swelling wasn’t too bad…it was the abstaining for a full week after everything healed to get a successful sperm test to make sure the procedure was a success. When I asked him to elaborate, aside from the laughter at the fact that most had been through a sperm count test at their age, they explained that when getting this test done (for whatever reason) the doctor usually expects you to not ejaculate for at least a week to guarantee accurate results. That made me wonder. If they want a week…could my original friend have been on to something? How much “mature” sperm can the average adult male produce in only 12 hours? If a man were to masturbate at 8 in the morning then make love to his wife at 8 o’clock that night and “oops…I made a mistake honey” were to happen…how much should that couple worry?
Just an idea to ponder…hey…this is “hump” day after all
Doctors have a technical term for people who rely on the withdrawal method. They call them “parents.” As far as depleting the supply is concerned, it only takes one.
Not only will masturbation not make you less potent, but I believe it actually makes you slightly more potent. I read that couples who are trying to concieve were more successful when the men masturbated, rather than trying to ‘save it up’.
I think his wife wants to have kids, and will find some sort of ‘problem’ with ANY form of birth control.
Withdrawal is not a good form of contraception but it is one that will reduce the odds of pregnancy. Also ‘shooting’ your load will lessen the sperm count is subisquent releases.
IIRC normal sex has a 75% in not resulting in a pregnancy, condoms were 95%, the pill was higher. Withdrawal was in the high 80’s. This was from a web search and a foggy memory of 2 years ago. The short of it was withdrawal + tempetature plotting (abstaining during ovulation times) + something else (maybe spermiside) was satistically as effective as condoms.
…Even if he managed to ‘withdraw’ in time every single time, pregnancy can still occur because the penis leaks small amounts of semen during intercourse. This fluid has a very high sperm count. Ethilrist is exactly right, he’s headed toward becoming a parent.
These statistics need a bit of explanation. While I don’t know if the numbers are correct, assuming they are, the “95%” number for condoms means that for every 100 [heterosexual] couples using condoms for birth control, over the course of one year, 5 of them will become pregnant. Effectiveness ratings for other forms of birth control are similarly done. IIRC, the Pill was considered to be 98.something% effective.
Surreal: Thanks, but I really wasn’t looking for any personal attacks on my friend…or on the honestly of his wife. By the way…got a cite for your information?
Everyone else: Thank you for the info! Keep it coming (no pun intended)
“Some studies have indicated, however, that having intercourse every day or even several times a day, before and during ovulation improves pregnancy rates. Although sperm count per ejaculation is low, a constantly replenished semen supply is more likely to result in a fertilized egg.”
I really don’t know how useful these numbers can be, without a couple of extra statistics, the most important being how often they have sex. Couples who do it a few times per year will have wildly different statistics than those who do it a few times a day. What frquency do these studies presume? (Other important facts, especially for couples who do it less frequently, are whether they do it before, during, after ovulation, etc etc)
“*The highest number of sperm are in the first drops of ejaculate. Pre-ejaculate (also known as precum) can carry thousands of active sperm. The pull out method has a high failure rate because of this. Even a few drops of semen close to your vagina can result in pregnancy. The sperm will travel with your natural cervical mucous quickly swimming to reach an egg.
*”
Which, if you’ll read carefully, is not what you said. This study is saying that ejaculating frequently will lower the sperm count per ejaculation, just as the friend of the OP thought.
Of course it is still not effective birth control. Masturbating to lower his sperm count will lower her chances of concieving when they do have sex, but I would be surprised if it would lower them any more than 50%.
Uh, furthermore it’s always been my understanding that if the man ejaculates and then has sex again not too long afterward, there may be active sperm in his pre-ejaculate. So masturbating beforehand may actually have the opposite effect than the one he’s looking for.
Thanks everyone.
I really wasn’t worried about whether or not it was “smart” to use the method described in the OP. As I said…my friend and his wife have been married for several years and really wouldn’t mind getting pregnant. It’s just not in their immediate plan.
I guess after reading all the replies I am more curious about the time it takes for a sperm to mature. Immature or deformed sperm are going to be much less likely to reach the uterus and fertilize an egg when compared to a healthy mature sperm. If a man were to masturbate twice daily would he give those sperm a chance to mature? Sure…there would be sperm in the pre-ejaculate…but would they be mature by then, or still in a development stage and just sent into battle because that’s all the body had?
This is kind of how my wife and I felt about it. We would try to play it safe but not totally so and would be happy if I was able to slip a cookie into the jar
Looking at the data in this link (the one posted four messages up by K2dave), it would appear that the Withdrawal method is more effective than the Diaphragm, the Cervical Cap, Female Condoms, and various fertility “prediction” and “awareness” methods, and pretty close to Male Condoms.
That is not only at odds with my expectations, but also with many of the comments above on this thread. Am I missing something?
Or can I just toss that box of hated condoms, and live with only a slightly increased risk of being a father again?
