ONE in 10 Brits wrongly believe the “pullout method” is an effective contraceptive, a survey shows.
They believe it helps avoid pregnancy 90 per cent of the time, the report by women’s health app Flo Health found.
The nationwide survey of women aged 18 to 55 showed there is “a staggering degree of misinformation” around reproductive health.
The company said £1billion cuts to NHS sexual health services since 2015 have resulted in a plethora of wrong ideas about safe sex circulating on social media.
Dr Claudia Pastides, of Flo Health, said: “Low health literacy is a direct contributor to the spread of misinformation and leads to poor health outcomes and unhealthy behaviours, especially in the areas of menstrual, sexual, and pregnancy health.
“Every woman’s body is different, and every woman’s experience with her menstrual and reproductive health is unique, but this is not taken into consideration enough.
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“We want to empower women to better understand their own unique bodies, destigmatise taboo topics, and ultimately improve their health literacy by personalising their access to medically credible health information.”
If done correctly, the pullout method is effective around 96 per cent of the time, according to Planned Parenthood.
However, this is very rarely the case in reality, as most men do not withdraw quick enough and sperm can still get inside the vagina regardless.
Based on typical use, an average of 22 out of 100 couples will become pregnant from relying on the method — an effectiveness of just 78 per cent.
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Despite this, social media is rife with memes and posts about men’s “pull-out games”, resulting in many couples still using it.
The survey found nearly three quarters of women don’t double-check health information they get on social media.
Around six in ten said they did not know you can catch an STI without having sex.
And a quarter of women aged 18 to 34 said they see masturbation as shameful, compared to 15 per cent of 45- to 55-year-olds.
One in 10 said they figured out how to use menstrual products like pads and tampons themselves.
Some 9 per cent said they thought the more sex you have, the looser your vagina would be — despite this being incorrect.
Seven per cent mistakenly thought tampons can stretch vaginas, while 11 per cent wrongly believed women should wash inside the organ.
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