Amsterdam women are increasingly interested in natural contraception. This is what the Center for Sexual Health of the GGD Amsterdam says. According to GGD doctor Florentien Hinsenveld, it is good that more attention is being paid to the wishes and needs of women, but there are also risks to the trend: “It is not as reliable as other contraception.”
Earlier this winter, the Rutgers expertise center released national figures, showing that the percentage of women who do not use a contraceptive during sex has increased from more than 33 to more than 41 percent in the past five years.
They have also noticed the trend at the GGD Amsterdam. GGD doctor Florentien Hinsenveld suspects that there are two causes for the increased interest. Firstly, there is a growing awareness about side effects of contraception, which some women experience. And the changing spirit of the times also plays a role, says Hinsenveld: “Women want to live more and more consciously and use more natural products.”
The latter also applied to Amsterdam’s Luna Java, who became pregnant despite her hormone IUD and ultimately had a miscarriage. “I was like, that coil has to be removed from my body. Of course I wanted to do it from now on.”
Cervical mucus
Java studied the subject and, together with her partner, took a course with Guénaëlle de Graaf in Amsterdam-Noord. During this four-part course, De Graaf teaches women to understand their fertility cycle. She also notices an increase in interest among women: “Women started taking the pill from the moment they started menstruating, and have never had a natural cycle. Now they are in their late twenties and they wonder how it works. actually works,” says De Graaf.
De Graaf’s method focuses on physical factors, including measuring body temperature and cervical mucus. “Cervical mucus is a discharge from the cervix, which you can observe externally. The better the quality, the better the sperm cells survive in the female body,” says de Graaf.
Reliability
According to Hinsenveld, it is good that more attention is paid to the female body. Yet she also has concerns: “It is good that attention is paid to the wishes and needs of women. On the other hand, we believe that women should be well informed about reliability.” For example, natural methods are less reliable than contraception, according to Hinsenveld. Many women also use apps that help keep track of their fertile days. However, according to the doctor, not all of these are equally accurate.
De Graaf understands those concerns. “There are indeed apps that only rely on the temperature, for example. They are not reliable enough. Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge about why you do or do not do something,” says De Graaf. The method she teaches women requires a certain will and discipline, she says. “It does indeed require more instructions than the pill, but it is doable for women who are interested and would like to learn.”