Apparently there were many crazy things ladies used to do to prevent themselves from getting knocked up before condoms and the pill were available at the corner drug stores. Thanks to this Newsweek slide show, “The Evolution of Birth Control,” I learned a thing or two about how ladies used to ward off a visit from the stork. After the jump, the top 10 birth control practices that I’m thrilled I never have to try.

A new study has found that British women under the age of 50 choose condoms for birth control as often as they choose the Pill. This is the first time the two contraceptives have been used equally (each is used by 25 percent of women under 50) since statistics have been collected. Campaigns to get women to carry condoms and protect themselves against STDs have been credited for the increased condom use, though over half of sexually active single people said publicity about STDs had not made them use condoms. Hmm ... I wonder if maybe all those crazy side effects of the Pill — not to mention expense — has something to do with the growing number of condom users? Maybe women are just sick of feeling sick. [via Daily Mail]

Earlier this year, the FDA approved a generic low-dose birth control called Tri-Lo Sprintec. Afterward, many insurance companies — including mine — switched coverage from the name-brand Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo to the much cheaper, newly approved generic brand. In July, just a few days before my wedding, my pharmacist informed me of the switch and said that if I wanted to continue taking the name brand, I’d now have to pay the full cost, which would be an increase of $60 over what I’d been paying when my insurance still covered it. After the pharmacist assured me the formula in the two pills was “exactly the same,” I decided to save some money and try the generic brand, Tri-Lo Sprintec. Since then, I’ve been experiencing all kinds of unpleasant side effects.

Kerry Bailey, 24, is getting married in a few months and she and her husband-to-be, Joe, are sure they don’t want kids. So Kerry is going to get sterilized before the wedding. Kerry is very career-oriented and the thought of having kids has always made her feel sick. She loves to travel and doesn’t want to worry about getting pregnant in some remote part of the world. But, wait, can we talk about this for a second?

Not to get all TMI on you — we’re all friends here, though, aren’t we? — but my husband and I are thinking about changing up our birth control to the ol’ pull-out method. Actually, correction: I’m thinking about it and he’s biding his time, not saying too much, hoping I come to my senses before my prescription for the Pill runs out. But the thing is, I’m beginning to hate the Pill. While I’m not experiencing the emotional side effects that I have in the past — thank God! — I am suffering from what I call the Big Boob Effect. My boobs have grown a whole cup size in the two years that I’ve been taking the Pill on the regular. I’m now a D-Cup, which may sound sweet to some of you, but remember, I went through surgery once before to have smaller boobs, so these Ds are not welcome in my book. In addition, I’ve gained about 10 pounds and no matter how much I exercise, I can’t seem to shed the extra weight. I’ve gone up a dress size in everything, and I’ve had to replace practically my whole wardrobe. I’m a confident person, but lately I’m pretty uncomfortable in my skin and I blame it on the Pill.

I’ve been on birth control pills off and on since I was 21 years old. I started taking them in college, when I was sleeping with someone off and on. Looking back, I suspect that going on the pill is what made that relationship so irregular, because I have this theory that deciding to go on the pill is a complete relationship curse.

The Contraception Opera, “starring sperm and egg,” combines two of my favorite things—sex education and interpretive dance! Genius. [via BuzzFeed]

Me? I don’t have a subscription to Contraception, the journal, but somebody out there must. Apparently, a trio of researchers set about studying the durability of condoms. After all, no one wants a condom that breaks, right? That’s so not sexy. Also? Babies. But how do you test a condom? Live models in the lab can be so, er, sticky. Instead, the team used a contraception testing mechanism called a “laboratory coital model.” Wow. That is hot! It’s what you see pictured here. Want to know why condoms break? Find out what the mecha-wang revealed after the jump.

Nothing has made us giggle as hard this morning as this “Colbert Report” clip about 17-year-old Freesia Jackson, who was nailed by her school officials for possession of a controlled substance: her birth control pills. Popping a baby-blocker in the cafeteria earned this little trollop a two-week suspension from school.

It’s about time guys starting taking part in the whole circle-of-life thing. I mean, it’s us girls who have to deal with getting our periods, taking birth control, getting pregnant, having a baby, and just generally being super awesome. Oh wait, that last one isn’t part of reproduction. Well, anyway, men may soon be able to ease our burden, because scientists are one step closer to unlocking the secret of male contraception. They’ve identified the gene mutation that prevents dudes from being able to make babies. Guys who are infertile have sperm that aren’t good swimmers. And, if a dude doesn’t have the Michael Phelps of man fluid, well, those little guys just aren’t going to make it to the egg. The good news is—this discovery could help scientists develop birth control for men. If they could just figure out how to replicate this mutation in fertile men and make sure it’s reversible, us ladies could stop taking those little pills every day. [Women’s Health]

Authors of a new paper in Contraception magazine say that the withdrawal method is as effective as condoms when it comes to pregnancy prevention. They say “typical use” of the withdrawal method results in pregnancy 18 percent of the time, versus 17 percent for typical use of condoms. The lead author, Rachel K. Jones, told the New York Times that she and her colleagues wanted to publish the paper because the pullout method was being dismissed, and some people had the impression that it was akin to not using contraception at all. She added that it seemed logical to compare the withdrawal method with condoms because health care professionals advocate condom use, even though that method also has flaws. Now, however, some educators and physicians fear that putting out this new message will cause teenagers to abandon condoms altogether. They also point out that unlike condoms, the withdrawal method can’t prevent sexually transmitted diseases and infections. The pullout method is less problematic in marriages and other monogamous, long-term relationships, but what happens when a young man gets it wrong or doesn’t withdraw when he said he would? Can horny teen boys really be trusted to pull out?

“16 And Pregnant”: it’s not just an MTV reality show, it’s also America’s scary reality! A Centers for Disease Control report just came out which discovered teen pregnancy increased in recent years. Teen birth rates rose during 2006 and 2007, after having decreased from 1991 to 2005.

More scary news is the number of AIDS cases in young men. CDC data shows that between 1997 and 2006, the number of men ages 15 to 24 with AIDS increased, as well. [ABC News]

A controversial group called Project Prevention in Knoxville, Tennessee is paying drug addicts and alcoholics not to get pregnant. The group is traveling across the United States this summer in an RV, offering addicts $300 to be sterilized, or $300 per year each year they go on long-term birth control. [WATE.com]

“I was just saying about birth control, because I got very scared about it the other day and I felt like God was telling me that this was something just created by the government that is really bad for my body and I was just getting sick…. I researched it, and one of the founding people who invented birth control said it was the worst thing they had ever done, they wished they’d never created it, how it morally corrupted society, it’s just sickening to him…. How it devalues women, how it causes depression, how it can cause cancer, how it sterilizes your body, and what it does to your body, how most women are suicidal sometimes on it, and in fact, in order to even stabilize the population right now, each woman would have to have three children…. The population is decreasing so much that population control is just a myth.”

—Heidi Montag, taking time away from her job as a Twitter evangelist, addressing the subject of birth control on “The Alex Jones Show,” a conservative radio talk show. [The Hollywood Gossip]

Last week, Plan B was approved for over-the-counter status in Canada. Canada is now the fifth country to allow women to purchase Plan B without a prescription or a consultation with a pharmacist. In other words, Plan B will be available on Canadian drug-store shelves, no questions asked.

If you thought the blond Orbitz girl cornered the market on bizarre gum marketing, you clearly have not stumbled across the wonderful absurdity that is Miracle Birth Control Gum. I suppose it was only really a matter of time until someone figured out a way to sweeten breath while simultaneously preventing pregnancy. Though the product is specifically targeted for single gals in their 30’s, I doubt a married woman in her 50’s would suffer from any serious medical side effects. The label warns that weight gain may occur after chewing, but chewing burns calories, right? Problem solved. I won’t bother guessing about the potential dire consequences if a dude were to pop one of these mint flavored tablets between his smackers. If a guy is worrying about birth control, he has bigger problems. About eight pounds bigger.

Martina started posting photos of her naked breasts on her blog “Will They Grow?” (obviously NSFW) last week, in order to chart their growth now that she’s on birth control. After the jump, she tells us why and what she hopes to see happen.

Remembering to take birth control pills every day at the same time can be a hassle. Buying condoms adds another thing to our pages-long to-do list. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an effective birth control and STD-preventative in one? Dr. Brij Saxena, a reproductive biology and endocrinology professor at the Weill Cornell Medical College, has developed a vaginal ring that may prevent sexually transmitted HIV and unintended pregnancy because it releases several types of non-hormonal agents and microbicides. The device has proven to prevent HIV infection in laboratory trials, Saxena said, and it could give women the power to protect themselves effectively and conveniently from an unintended pregnancy and HIV, if future clinical trials are successful.

In an upcoming issue of Contraception, Rachel K. Jones of the Guttmacher Institute makes the case that sex educators should start teaching the withdrawal method as a form of birth control. Jones argues that when practiced properly, the withdrawal method is quite effective at preventing pregnancy, and only four percent of those who use it “perfectly” will get pregnant in the next year. The method, like birth control pills, however, has no proven effect when it comes to preventing the transmission of STDs, although researchers are hoping to study that, too.