TIMAREE SCHMIT: Get into rhythm, learn technique

Welcome back, boys and girls. Gather 'round the camp fire for another rousing rendezvous with the resident sexpert. It's been two whole weeks since we last pondered sexual health, and you've got to be jonesing to read some questions from your peers.

Today we've got a letter from one curious student who raised two important topics that steadfastly remain at the top of the sexual concerns list for college-aged people. These are important, so despite how boring the topic of sex may be, try to stay awake.

The student, "Seema," asked: "What's the best time in a girl's cycle to have sex without any worry? Both of us are virgins."

If you were to head to the doctor's office and ask these questions, time restraints and liability insurance would probably require the answer to be that "it's never safe to go without condoms, even for virgins."

And honestly, if you don't want to get pregnant, they're right.

Parenthetically, they might remind you about being emotionally prepared to become sexually active and considering the potential effects on your relationship. But you already know that.

It is my professional duty to remind you that periodic abstinence (aka the "rhythm method") is not foolproof nor recommended to couples who've not had specific training in the technique. But I'll expound on the beauty of the menstrual cycle for your query.

Here's a primer on the waxing and waning of your monthly fertility. Although each woman's cycle is different, for the sake of convenience we'll pretend yours is 28 days long.

Day one: Period (menses) starts. Yipee! This should last around five days, but being shorter or longer is not necessarily a sign of trouble. Some believe this time is fairly safe for unprotected sex, but remember: It's entirely possible to get pregnant.

Day 9: Beginning of the "danger zone" where you're most likely to conceive. It lasts approximately five days and culminates in the mother of all fertility factors: ovulation. To quote the Feminist Women's Health Center: "Just before ovulation, a woman's cervix secretes an abundance of clear 'fertile mucous,' which is characteristically stretchy. [It] helps facilitate the sperm's movement toward the egg."

This fact will be relevant when we discuss the rhythm method.

Day 14: Ovulation. An egg has been released from the follicle in one of the ovaries and will traverse its merry way down the fallopian tubes to the womb in the next week. Fertilization takes place if sperm joins with the egg before it reaches the uterus.

Day 21: The endometrium (membrane lining the uterus) is getting thicker and thicker, preparing either to host a fetus or be shed in the next menses. It is in this week (after ovulation but before bleeding starts) that you are least likely to conceive, according to the Kinsey Institute Sexuality Information Service for Students.

If you are adhering to the rhythm method, a technique popularized by Catholics and used by many others, the most important thing here is sex is permissible at any point in the month except in the danger zone around ovulation.

This method requires you to chart your cycle, record your body temperature when you wake up and monitor your daily level of cervical mucus.

All of these indicators point out when it's safest to have unprotected sex.

Relatedly, couples seeking to become pregnant also can utilize the system by specifically having intercourse on fertile days. The University Health Center provides classes for those interested in learning the how-tos.

If it is imperative that sex be without condoms (a practice I am in no way suggesting, especially to those with STD risk factors), your "safest" bet is right before menstruation.

"Seema" then asked: "What should we do while having oral sex to prevent any fluids entering his/my mouth?"

While your risk levels for disease transmission are fairly low (being two monogamous virgins and all), it's awesome you're concerned with safer oral sex. You should pat each other on the back and buy yourselves an ice cream cone. After all, HIV and herpes can be spread by nonsexual contact, so it's best to be safe.

When performing oral sex, or fellatio, on your boyfriend, the best barrier method is a non-lubricated, non-spermicidal condom. Either lubrication or spermicide would make the process utterly nasty tasting (nonoxynol-9 even could make your mouth go numb).

As you've probably heard, condoms come in all sorts of colors, scents and flavors, and this is why. Strawberry and mint are preferable over the taste of latex any day.

As we've discussed in this little column before, for cunnilingus, dental dams are the best method of protection.

According to the Sexual Health infoCenter you should spread the thin, plastic-like, square barrier over the female genital area before proceeding as usual. These can be purchased at stores or made at home using non-microwavable Saran Wrap or by cutting a condom from end to tip down the side (to form a square).

A bit of caution: if you manufacture your own dental dam out of plastic wrap, MAKE SURE IT IS NON-MICROWAVABLE. Otherwise your efforts are a little pointless.

Well, lassies and lads, I hope you learned a lot! The moral of today's exercise: If you decide to be sexually active, be safe and get tested periodically for STDs. Remember and you should be fine.

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Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Spring 2004 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author; a cartoon is solely the opinion of its artist. The Board of Regents acts as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the publication of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its employees.