General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTo hell with "the rhythm method"
For years the Catholic church's only acceptable means of conception-control has been "the rhythm method"... for some reason couples are allowed to fuck during ovulatory down-time.
Of course, the church knew that ovulatory down-time was hard to predict and the usual term for a woman using the rhythm method was "Mom."
But with advances in science, like digital vaginal mucosa thermometers and such, run the terrible risk of making the rhythm method slightly more reliablea clear affront to God's will that people should make as many babies as possible while not having sex... which is bad, but perhaps not quite as bad as not making babies.
So the only sensible thing for someone like Rick Santorum is to favor is randomized mandatory screwing. The government would send every legally married couple a randomized calendar of which dates they must, and must not do the baby-making thing.
Raven
(13,900 posts)rhythm method. I owe the existence of my beloved child on it.
I got music,
I got my man --
Who could ask for anything more?
1ProudAtheist
(346 posts)why the pointy headed guy that wears the pointy hat is making such a fuss over it. It's all about the money. You won't find hardly any "catholic converts", so they are into the mass multiplication business to continue the bilking of the masses.
As with all other forms of extortion, just follow the money trail.
Ms. Toad
(34,102 posts)It was much more accurate for than the ovulation predictor kit our doc insisted we use for insemination.
My brother was also conceived because my mother knowing when she ovulated. He was born 6 weeks after the cousin he was timed to coincide with so they would be playmates.
Of course, my accidental appearance is why my mother knew it could be used for conception planning in the first place
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)And Beat It....
But then that would be putting some responsibility on the poor male who is easily manipulated by all those horrible harlots in the Bible...
You know Eve, et all...
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Dorothy Parker said of her pet parakeet: "I think I'll name him Onan because he spills his seed upon the ground."
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)but a kleenex, well the literal interpretation says "seed upon the ground..."
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)neatness counts
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)Because he slew his brother.
Killed a younger brother in a different litter, when he was born.
peace frog
(5,609 posts)open up your mouth and feed it...
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)It is a relatively safe birth control method.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)That about right?
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)and have posted such before. I think you know what I meant but if you wish to blow it out of proportion feel free.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)LadyHawkAZ
(6,199 posts)the biggest one being planned obsolescence. Production has to meet demand.
There's been minor media and legal issues as well, but it hasn't seemed to bother them as much. Bad publicity can be overcome if spun correctly, and costs can be passed on to the consumer- although that also requires a steady supply of consumers.
/snark
I have no respect left for this organization. Even if I was a believer, I couldn't see any kind of a god in it.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)And loved the snark.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Just clap your hands on the even beat.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)It gets creepier and creepier.
MotorCityMan
(1,203 posts)My older brother was born almost 9 months to the day after my parents wedding. They did not want to have another child right away, so close in age to the first, so they were following the rhythm method. Surprise! 15 months after my brother, I was born.
I personally know quite a few friends and acquaintances who had what I like to call "Ooops!!!" babies. Trying to be good Catholics, following church doctrine, and imagine that, it wasn't very reliable.
My dad later ended up having a vasectomy. When he found out I was gay when I was 19, he said to me, "You know, the church considers that a sin", and I came right back with, "You mean like your vasectomy?". That dropped the whole "sin" angle from that conversation.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)I am an Only Child by choice born in 1948. My Mom told me this before I myself got married. They lived in a tiny 1 bedroom NYC apartment, with my Grandma. Quiverful of kids? Where? People ignored the church even back then when their circumstances dictated it. Four plus kids in a tiny NYC apartment? They would have been evicated by city rules for the number of people who can live in a one bedroom apartment, aka, SLUM.
pokerfan
(27,677 posts)I've always liked this quote: "It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry." ~H.L. Mencken, Notebooks, 1956
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)tsuki
(11,994 posts)Bigmack
(8,020 posts)HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)It MUST "work" since I never knew any Catholic family in the West Village of NYC back in the 50s or 60s who have more than 3 kids. As I said, I am an Only Child and I wasn't the ONLY ONE CHILD family among my Catholic friends. The chruch's ban on BC has been ignored since the 50s, by people with BRAINS, and NO MONEY.
originalpckelly
(24,382 posts)We hired a guy to come play bongos every time we felt like having sex.
Unfortunately, my girlfriend starting sleeping with him and got knocked up.
Well, at least it kept me from having a child.
dogknob
(2,431 posts)MarianJack
(10,237 posts)...my wife and I attended the church's pre-cannan classes. Two things stood out to me.
The first was this very nice couple (I think they were from Stepford CT) who explained "natural family planning". Mrs Stepford took great pains to start their lecture with her pledge that IT'S NOT RHYTHM! They then proceeded to give a 45 minute discourse on the rhythm method exactly. I guess it was different because it had a different name.
The second thing was our "compatibility" questionaire. It found 13 "areas of difference" out ofabout 200 questions. When we looked at these disagreements, we saw that 7 of the 13 were areas where we both disagreed with church dictates, not with each other.
We didn't give 3/10 of a rat's ass. We got our damn certificate so we could marry at her parents' church.
As the little old lady supposedly said about the pope, "he no playa the game, he no makea the rules".
In the early 70s, the wife of my father's old war buddy, he being a devout catholic, confided to my step-mother that she was considering suicide because she thought she might be expecting their FIFTEENTH child! She was tired of paying the price for her husband's convictions. When she turned out to be not pregnant she went to her doctor in secret and got on the pill.
In the meanwhile, one kid sometimes drives me nuts.
PEACE!
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)Mom & Dad
mysuzuki2
(3,521 posts)occasions my partner and I got a pretty good rhythm going! Seriously, if sex was meant to be only for purposes of reproduction, humans would have a distinct "season" like most other animals.
anAustralianobserver
(633 posts)is that okay because the chance of the condom being the fertilisation-stopping factor could be less than the chance of the rhythm method being the fertilisation-stopping factor at that time?
anAustralianobserver
(633 posts)situation, in order to maximise the chance that in the event of a cancelled conception, it would be the rhythm method's agency that would be responsible, sanctifying the otherwise gravely disordered act.