Truth Be Told

Peanut butter. Plastic bags. Mountain Dew. You might not think they have a lot in common but, according to Michelle Blomgren’s former classmates, all three are methods of birth control.

If that sounds ridiculous, don't worry. It is. None of those things will help prevent pregnancy. Even Blomgren, an 18-year-old who lives in Rockville, Ill., knew better. But rumors like these spread like wildfire at her old high school, she says, and many teenagers she knew bought into even the most outlandish ideas.

To be fair, people have been accepting (and spreading) incorrect information about birth control since there was any information to spread. But, as sex has become less taboo in American culture, it should be relatively simple to get the facts. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily true.

"Our sex-saturated society bombards teens with sexual images every day," says Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president of medical affairs for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, "but it doesn't always give teens the tools they need to protect their health and their futures, such as comprehensive sex education."

In fact, in some cases, young people aren't even getting accurate information in sex education classes. Blomgren says that the climate of misinformation among her classmates was only made worse by fallacies spread by her teachers. "I attended a Lutheran school my freshman year and in health class we were taught that condoms were only 60 percent effective when used properly," she says. "We were taught that there was no birth control out there that was over 80 percent effective."

"That is just absolutely false," Dr. Cullins says.

Even with typical use—that  is, even when couples use them incorrectly—condoms are effective about 85 percent of the time.  When used correctly, they are 98 percent effective. And hormonal birth control, like the pill, can be 92 percent to 98.7 percent effective, depending on how well it's used. Plus, condoms protect you from STDs as well. They offer nearly 100 percent protection against HIV/AIDS and significantly reduce the risk of transmitting other STDs.

This disparity in what teenagers know about sex and what they know about safe sex is further complicated by fears of being caught and sometimes-confusing ideas about what counts as "good" behavior. Dr. Donnica Moore, a multimedia women's health educator, says that homemade birth control methods, like peanut butter, might appeal to teens simply because there's no stigma associated with buying it. "Girls have all kinds of negative ideas about carrying a condom," she says. "They think it's OK to have sex, but only if you haven't planned for it ahead of time. They seem to think that if you carry a condom, it means you're a slut."

According to Cullins and Moore, the only way to counteract all the bad information and crippling embarrassment is to improve sex education. If we're really serious about preventing teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, they contend, it's vitally important for today's teenagers to have access to literature and lessons that cover more than just the reasons not to have sex and provide information about more than just one or two forms of protection. If that's not available, they say that teens—ideally with help from their parents—should  work to educate themselves. Moore recommends the book Our Bodies, Ourselves and Cullins suggests checking out Planned Parenthood's Web site.