Thursday, March 28Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: Condom

Please, Just Use a Condom
Lifestyle

Please, Just Use a Condom

Fertility app Natural Cycles is described on its website as “an effective, natural method of contraception.” It is essentially a smartphone app, for which users pay £5.99 monthly or £39.99 annually to access, along with their own oral basal thermometer. The user takes their temperature every morning and inputs the reading into the app. Along with information about the individual’s menstrual cycle, it decrees whether that day is ‘green’ (i.e. you are presumed not to be fertile, and are safe to have unprotected sex) or ‘red’ (i.e. you are presumed to be fertile, and should either abstain from sex or use additional protection). It is marketed both to help those who want to get pregnant soon, and those who wish to prevent pregnancy. The main issue with this app’s method is its reliance on tem...