This is something to be discussed early in your pregnancy. In recent years some women have questioned the increased use of technology in obstetrics and the ‘over-medicalisation’ of pregnancy and childbirth. They view child-bearing as something that should proceed naturally, and accuse obstetricians of intervening too much, especially in labour and delivery. Are these criticisms [...]

Advantages of fertility awareness • There are no known side-effects. • It is highly effective if coitus is confined to the second infertile phase. • The method is acceptable to most religious doctrines. • Once you’ve been taught the method, there’s no follow-up or further expense. • It allows you to understand your reproductive cycle [...]

Does the Pill cause moodiness and loss of interest in sex? It is well known that hormones can have an effect on mood. I am convinced that the regular mood swings that women describe both in natural and Pill cycles can be related partly to hormones. Many other things also affect our moods. It’s hard [...]

Incest means sex between those whom the law forbids to marry because they are too closely related by blood or marriage. The most common forms of incest are believed to be father-daughter and brother-sister, but it’s now coming to light that young boys are more commonly sexually abused by male and female family members than [...]

The menarche (pronounced men-ark) -or first period, menstrual period or menstruation – is the most notable event of puberty for a girl and is the most obvious sign that she is well on the way to sexual maturity. What happens to cause the first period? When the ovaries become active early in puberty they begin [...]