Читать книгу Sex For Dummies - Pierre Lehu A., Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer - Страница 73

I’m Jewish, and for Orthodox Jews, sex is absolutely forbidden while a woman has her period. Many people share this attitude, whether it comes from religious beliefs or just plain squeamishness at the sight of blood. Ironically, however, many women actually feel more aroused when they have their period, because the pelvic region fills with blood, similar to the flow of blood that occurs in the genitals during sexual arousal.

What if you do feel aroused during your period? There is a slight increase in the risk of catching an STD, but if you’re having sex with a partner who has not been tested so that you don’t know whether or not he is disease free, that’s a risk you have to account for whether or not you are having your period. You may want to place a towel under you to protect the sheets, and if the man feels strange about having blood on his penis, he can use a condom. But if the urge hits you, you have no reason not to give in to it. Unless your religion forbids it, of course.

Studies show that orgasm can actually relieve some of the discomfort women feel while they are having their period by reducing the feeling of pelvic fullness and cramping.

Although, technically speaking, you shouldn’t be able to get pregnant while you’re menstruating, Mother Nature sometimes plays tricks on you. You may have some vaginal bleeding that you interpret as the start of your period when it may not be. In addition, women who have a shorter-than-normal cycle may ovulate while they are still having their period. So if you have unprotected intercourse because you are bleeding, you may wind up pregnant. If you decide to use natural family planning and rely on your menstrual cycle to plan your sexual activities, then you must follow a method that relies on other factors besides just your period to avoid an unintended pregnancy.

Now you may think that women would feel their sexiest when they’re ovulating, because that’s when they can become pregnant and hence continue the species. In fact, during ovulation is the only time that females in the rest of the animal kingdom become sexually aroused. Although this heightened arousal may occur in some women, no research has ever found that the condition is widespread, so why this trait has disappeared almost entirely in humans is a mystery.