Myths About Pull Out Method & Masturbation Common in India: Sexual Health Survey

27.21% of the people surveyed believe that the pull-out method works to avoid pregnancy during penetrative sex.

27.21 percent of the people surveyed believe that the pull-out method works to avoid pregnancy during penetrative sex.

(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/FIT)

At least 27.21 percent of the 35,000 people who participated in Allo Health's Sexual Health Education Survey believe that if the man pulls out before ejaculating during penetrative sex, the woman cannot get pregnant.

Fifty percent of women, who took part in the survey, also believe this is true, the analysis revealed.

There's more.

Key Insights From the Survey

The survey, conducted across 400 cites and districts by the sexual health awareness platform, threw the following results:

• Only 7.67 percent people believe that masturbation can cause acne, hair loss, impotence, memory loss, or blindness, but a 13.11 percent people think that masturbation can reduce libido.

(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/The Quint)

• On a positive note, 84.61 percent people agree that psychological issues like anxiety and depression can be contributors to sexual disorders.

(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/The Quint)

• 21.43 percent single males believe that not all individuals need to give consent to engage in a sexual activity. However, 90.23 percent people also recognise that consent can be withdrawn and must be respected during any sexual activity.

(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/The Quint)

Misconceptions Not Uncommon: Fertility Specialist

Dr. Priti Gupta, Senior Consultant in Fertility & IVF services, First Step IVF (Centre for Reproductive Medicine), New Delhi, shares that the misconception about the pull-out method me is is a common misconception people have. She says:

"The pull-out method has a high failure rate and you might conceive from it, so you have to have other contraception methods to rely on. Women can take oral contraceptives, men can use condoms. And even if you believe that the pull-out method can avoid pregnancies, you’ll still need protection from sexually-transmitted infections (STIs)."

She adds that a lot of misconceptions are associated with masturbation as well. In fact, she explains that masturbation doesn't have any known negative health impacts and is actually a healthy thing to do.

But, as a word of caution, she advises, "But, it is not something you should be addicted to."

Why Sex Education Is Important

Dr Sandip Deshpande, Chief Medical Officer (sexual and relationship therapist) at Allo Health, says that he often comes across patients who aren't just ill-informed but completely uninformed about their own bodies as well.

Says he:

"Sex education is of paramount importance and a single special lecture during school years is not enough. Parents should hold age-appropriate conversations with their children. Schools can strengthen that understanding. This is important because it is something that can have a lifelong impact on someone’s self-esteem and confidence."

Dr Deshpande adds that a significant number of female patients are often worried about penetrative sex. Male patients, on the other hand, have anxiety about erectile dysfunction, the size of their penis, the side effects of masturbation, etc.

Top Myths That Need To Be Deconstructed

According to Dr Deshpande, these are some things he's often found himself repeating to patients:

• There are no long-term implications of masturbation.

• Nightfall is not a disease.

• The vagina is self-cleansing and self-lubricating.

• Educate yourselves about contraceptives and STIs.

• Learn about consent and respect it.

• Don’t treat pornography as a source of information and don’t believe everything you see in it.

• Penetration is not ‘real sex'.