I’ve sought out emergency contraception three times since 2002. In the first part of this article, I shared the situations that got me into trouble. In this part, I’ll share how I got out, and my experiences with the pill itself.

TAKE I:

So, I find myself in trouble, due to two factors: first, the drunk and condom-free attentions of my (newly ex) boyfriend, and second, his unwillingness to deal in any way with the consequences. I solve this problem as I solve all others: by turning to lady friends and Google.

My roommate Kristin and I look up the “morning after” pill, and discover that there’s only one clinic within driving distance that prescribes it. We also discover that EC is only effective if it’s taken seventy-two hours after sex; thanks to my post-breakup moping, I have about twelve hours left. It will take two hours to reach the clinic. We scramble to the car.

When we arrive at the clinic, I am escorted into an exam room, where I meet a blonde woman in a lab coat. I explain my situation, and ask for the EC.

She shakes her head at me. I see pity in her eyes.

“I can’t prescribe those pills to you, honey,” she says. “I’m a Christian.”

This is the precise moment when I start crying. Read More »

Knowing when to end a long term friendship can be more difficult than any of us would ever like to admit. Wouldn’t it just be a hell of a lot easier if our oldest and supposedly closest friends never bugged out? If they could just stay calm and always be that chill girl we used to kick it with…all would be well with the world. But the fact of the matter is this: A lot of girls go “crazy” eventually and this easily includes girls you’ve known “forever”.

Not that long ago, I moved my best friend since elementary school into my apartment. At first, it was totally awesome. Despite the fact that we had certainly had more than one rough patch in our history of being friends; we were still getting along rather famously once we were living together. That was…of course…until I really started to see how nuts she was.

She was a pathological liar. But this was something that I had always known. She was obsessive with guys. This too was something that I had always known. She had a high level of respect and regard for me…again, something that I had always known. However, I had no clue how far she could possibly take any of these aspects of her character.

FIRST came the jealousy. I had recently started to rearrange my diet and lifestyle, finally putting my foot down and wanting to be healthier over all. In the process of doing this, I ended up dropping a few pounds. She, on the other hand, had always struggled with her weight, but was never quite willing to compromise her tendency to over-eat in exchange for the body she wanted. So when I dropped down to 125 at 5’7 (please note that this is a totally acceptable weight), she started to accuse me of being “scary skinny” and actually called me Nicole Richie. Read More »

While so many parents out there seem to be overwhelmingly concerned with keeping their teens’ Myspace pages private and making sure their Walmart-bought CD’s are equipped with “Parental Advisory” stickers; their teens are still getting into trouble.

We know this because we were teens not too long ago. The more you are protected by your parents, the sneakier you learn to be. It’s no accident that some of the worst kids you knew in high school came from some of the “best” families. Teen girls rebelling is about as natural as shopping or gossiping. If all of their parents only knew what they were doing at all those “sleepovers”….

Well, what it seems like they’ve been DOING…are the boys from school.

At least one in four girls out there between the ages of 14-19 has a sexually transmitted disease. This alarming study has brought a lot of attention to the fact that teens ARE, regardless of what we want to believe, having sex. Read More »

Good news for all of us sexually active birth control laden ladies. Studies show that our trusty BC may now protect against cancer! Just like tofu, but not like tanning beds!

According to the recent British study, which looked at 46,000 women over a 36-year period, taking the pill cut the risk by 12%. A whopping 12%!

Of course, there are the downfalls (there are always the downfalls.) If you take the pill for less than 8 years, you are covered in that measly 12%. If you take it for more than eight years, the study showed that the likelihood of cancer was raised 22%.

While breast cancer was not included in the decreased risk category, bowel, ovarian and uterine cancer was reduced in the ladies taking the pill for less than 8 years.

Finally, just a tiny bit of good news for the large percentage of women that have HPV. If, of course, you didn’t start doing it when you were 15, because a decade of birth control use can double your chances of getting uterine cancer. Read More »

It’s not just Brits that have trouble having the condom conversation.

After talking about it with my friends, I discovered that we’ve all had trouble bringing it up at one point or another. But bring it up we must…besides, sex is so much better when you can focus on enjoying yourself—NOT thinking “Oh my god, I’m getting something right now.”

Here are my suggestions for easing the awkwardness factor:

Bring it up in the heat of the moment.

Almost anything sounds hot whispered in someone’s ear as you’re tearing each other’s clothing off. Like “do you have a condom?” Practice in front of the mirror if you must. Which brings me to…

Carry a couple with you.

Once you finally muster up the courage to ask your partner if they have a condom, the last thing you want to hear is “Um…I’ll pull out!” Have one with you and you won’t have that problem. And ladies? It’s not slutty to carry them with you; it’s responsible. What is slutty is hosting an STD carnival in your nether regions. Once you’ve stocked up… Read More »

For the two of you still reading past that headline, I’m sorry to say that the disturbing image is in fact a reality—as I unfortunately found out when my grandmother confided details of her sex life that confirmed that everyone is indeed having more sex than me.

Well, it seems that the elderly are having so much sex, that the New York City Health Department has been targeting the older age group for condom giveaways and free HIV testing. The City Council has even budgeted $1 million toward HIV education for older people—money well-spent, considering that a study by the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America projected that within the next decade, the majority of HIV-infected New Yorkers will be over 50. Read More »

Though we’ve been led to believe otherwise by movies and dramatic episodes of Dawson’s Creek, let’s face it—sex can be awkward.

Instead of perfect lighting that makes you look hotter than Heidi Klum, you have your date’s lava lamp casting a faint glow on your cellulite. You don’t always fall effortlessly into bed, your bodies completely in sync. Sometimes you have to move your cat, half-eaten can of Pringles, and dog-eared copy of “He’s Just Not That Into You” out of the way first.

Passionate tearing off of clothing? Sure, sometimes.

But then there are those times where he’s fumbling with your bra clasp for so long that you don’t even help him because you’re curious to see how long it’ll take. Read More »

The alarm screams at 7:54 AM, tearing me out of dream in which I was awkwardly going back to my high school prom.

I am already not a fan of this day.

I do my best to get up and into the shower without falling asleep and slamming my head against the tile wall. Running downstairs, gulping a few spoonfuls of cereal and grabbing my keys, I

make it out the door just in time.

The rain and 45 degree day seem fitting. As does the asshole who cuts in front of me and then stops short to stare at a dead squirrel in the middle of the road. I’ve forgotten how much I hate driving. Going back to New York will be a blessing in one big, public transportation way.

Snagging a gynecologist appointment at home was a stroke of luck, but as I pull into the familiar parking lot, I can’t help but feel the pre-visit jitters. It’s not that I’m afraid of those stirrups and cold metal speculums, I’m just not happy to see them. Ever. Read More »