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.

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.

Cosmopolitan’s bread and butter is teaching women how to sex things up, in a billion different ways, which is precisely why we were shocked to read this cover line on their March Issue: “An Orgasm Almost Killed Her!” with the laughable tag, “We Are Not Kidding.” Are they biting the hand that feeds, or has their crack team of journalists finally found a dark side to doing it?

2006 was a year of unprotected sex for me. No, not every time, but I started off the year with a fling with a slightly older man I was besotted with, who didn’t speak a word about condoms, and, in response, I didn’t either. I wanted to trust that he had some magical knowledge that somehow I was missing, that maybe the world had overturned itself and they were no longer necessary. I was wrong, and after a pregnancy panic as I searched for Plan B—this was right before it was so readily available—I escaped unscathed. Then later that year I met a guy I fell absolutely head over heels with, sure that we were destined to be together.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.  Whether he’s a handsome stranger you don’t want to lead to the promise land or your boyfriend trying to gorge on girlfriend pie, here’s how to just say “Later lover.”

Sterilization Screw-Up A simple birth control slip up could cause penis pandemonium.  No dude wants to accidentally make a baby just because he wants to make sweet love.  So, just say you forgot to take the pill and would rather not risk it right now. He’ll probably thank you for protecting both of you!

The Campaign for Museums and the 24 Hour Museum recently held a survey to commemorate Museums and Galleries Month. They asked a variety of people about the greatest and worst innovations and ideas of all time. While the wheel took the top spot, with the internet close behind, equal rights for women and the pill cracked the top five. Plus, two famous feminists, Mary Wollstonecraft and Emmeline Pankhurst, also were recognized as “People in History Responsible For the Best Ideas.” Hooray! We modern women sure have accomplished a lot—from the right to vote to the right to orgasm. Speaking of which, it’s National Masturbation Month, so be sure to congratulate yourself for all you’ve achieved! [Metro UK]

Every month, when my period arrives at 9am on the dot on (usually) the first Sunday of the month, I say a little silent thank you to the person who created Ortho-Tricycline Lo. Birth control, in all its many forms, is a wonderful thing. Which do you use?