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cthulu2016

(10,960 posts)
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 06:29 PM Feb 2012

To 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 reliable—a 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.

37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
To hell with "the rhythm method" (Original Post) cthulu2016 Feb 2012 OP
Now, now, don't criticize the Raven Feb 2012 #1
I got rhythm, trof Feb 2012 #17
Precisely 1ProudAtheist Feb 2012 #21
Ditto - although perhaps with the opposite intent. Ms. Toad Feb 2012 #22
Well, he could always use the Jackson Method.... WCGreen Feb 2012 #2
The sin of Onan... sorry, no loopholes cthulu2016 Feb 2012 #4
If it doesn't hit the ground.... WCGreen Feb 2012 #11
As with so many things... cthulu2016 Feb 2012 #14
Spot on, so to say.... WCGreen Feb 2012 #18
We named our dog Cain. Manifestor_of_Light Feb 2012 #37
Eat it, eat it, get yourself an egg and beat it peace frog Feb 2012 #23
I thought the method they were promoting was sex with children Live and Learn Feb 2012 #3
No Catholics at DU, huh? And if there are... well FUCK 'EM, for they are pedophiles. cherokeeprogressive Feb 2012 #5
Actually, I am one Live and Learn Feb 2012 #7
Your name seems particularly unsuited to you of late. kestrel91316 Feb 2012 #9
Peace and love to you too. nt Live and Learn Feb 2012 #13
okay Angry Dragon Feb 2012 #31
Church hierarchy has run into issues with that method LadyHawkAZ Feb 2012 #8
I couldn't agree more. Live and Learn Feb 2012 #10
You can't beat it. dipsydoodle Feb 2012 #6
Funny. nt ZombieHorde Feb 2012 #12
Starting to remind me of the Handmaid's Tale. Liberal_Stalwart71 Feb 2012 #15
That was exactly what I was thinking. Curmudgeoness Feb 2012 #24
My Catholic parents were using the rhythm method in 1964, and here I am! MotorCityMan Feb 2012 #16
Condoms and diaphragms work a lot better than "Rhythm" HockeyMom Feb 2012 #27
H.L. Mencken... pokerfan Feb 2012 #19
I think the rhythm method is a plot to populate the planet with white babies. nm rhett o rick Feb 2012 #20
You don't need the rhythm method when you're raping little boys. nt tsuki Feb 2012 #25
Am I the only one old enough to remember the "rhythm method" as "Vatican Roulette? nt Bigmack Feb 2012 #26
I do because they preached it in Catholic School HockeyMom Feb 2012 #28
We tried the rhythm method... originalpckelly Feb 2012 #29
Will you be here all week? dogknob Feb 2012 #36
In 1998, before we were married,... MarianJack Feb 2012 #30
You know what they call people who use the rythym method, don't you? SoCalDem Feb 2012 #32
Why the crabbing about the rhythm method? On a few special mysuzuki2 Feb 2012 #33
If you use a condom to minimise the chance of fertilisation *during* the least fertile days anAustralianobserver Feb 2012 #34
You could even misapply the condom, for example by unrolling it first before applying it to the anAustralianobserver Feb 2012 #35
 

1ProudAtheist

(346 posts)
21. Precisely
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 07:54 PM
Feb 2012

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)
22. Ditto - although perhaps with the opposite intent.
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 07:55 PM
Feb 2012

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)
2. Well, he could always use the Jackson Method....
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 06:34 PM
Feb 2012

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)
4. The sin of Onan... sorry, no loopholes
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 06:39 PM
Feb 2012

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)
11. If it doesn't hit the ground....
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 06:54 PM
Feb 2012

but a kleenex, well the literal interpretation says "seed upon the ground..."

 

Manifestor_of_Light

(21,046 posts)
37. We named our dog Cain.
Mon Feb 13, 2012, 02:33 AM
Feb 2012

Because he slew his brother.

Killed a younger brother in a different litter, when he was born.

Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)
3. I thought the method they were promoting was sex with children
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 06:39 PM
Feb 2012

It is a relatively safe birth control method.

Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)
7. Actually, I am one
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 06:48 PM
Feb 2012

and have posted such before. I think you know what I meant but if you wish to blow it out of proportion feel free.

LadyHawkAZ

(6,199 posts)
8. Church hierarchy has run into issues with that method
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 06:49 PM
Feb 2012

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.

MotorCityMan

(1,203 posts)
16. My Catholic parents were using the rhythm method in 1964, and here I am!
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 07:01 PM
Feb 2012

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)
27. Condoms and diaphragms work a lot better than "Rhythm"
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 08:50 PM
Feb 2012

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)
19. H.L. Mencken...
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 07:22 PM
Feb 2012

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

 

HockeyMom

(14,337 posts)
28. I do because they preached it in Catholic School
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 08:54 PM
Feb 2012

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)
29. We tried the rhythm method...
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 08:56 PM
Feb 2012

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.

MarianJack

(10,237 posts)
30. In 1998, before we were married,...
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 09:21 PM
Feb 2012

...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!

mysuzuki2

(3,521 posts)
33. Why the crabbing about the rhythm method? On a few special
Sun Feb 12, 2012, 10:10 PM
Feb 2012

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.

34. If you use a condom to minimise the chance of fertilisation *during* the least fertile days
Mon Feb 13, 2012, 12:45 AM
Feb 2012

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?

35. You could even misapply the condom, for example by unrolling it first before applying it to the
Mon Feb 13, 2012, 01:31 AM
Feb 2012

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.

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