Reproductive health

Overview

Menstruation
Birth control
Safer sex and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections
Pelvic exams, Pap tests and breast exams

Humans are sexual beings—from the moment we're born until we die. As such, our sexuality is very much a part of our personality: it's closely tied to our beliefs, values, attitudes, feelings, and actions. Because of that, it's important to consider sexual health as integral to physical and emotional health and to maintain all three. After all, sexual health plays a role in our overall health and well-being.

What is sexual health? Sexual health depends on having ready access to accurate, complete, confidential, and non-judgmental information. Access to this type of sexual and reproductive information will help you make well-informed sexual decisions and to enjoy the positive aspects of sexual and reproductive behavior. It means you are able to make smart decisions consistent with your values and beliefs—decisions made without shame, fear, guilt, difficulty, or dysfunction. These decisions—and your sexual health—are shaped by your gender, age, sexual orientation, social class, ethnocultural background, disability, experiences, and values.

Menstruation

Teen girls need to learn about menstruation before they experience their first period. Understanding menstruation will help them feel positive about the changes in their bodies. After all, these changes are a natural part of becoming a woman and should not be viewed with shame or embarrassment.

What's more, girls should understand that menstrual periods are an indicator of overall health, particularly as they approach adulthood. What does this mean? A woman should consult her doctor any time she experiences changes in her menstrual cycle, a late or missed period, or unusual cramps.

It's not uncommon for girls to experience irregular periods when they first start menstruating. As a woman ages, her menstrual cycles will become more regular until her periods eventually stop at menopause. Young women, even if not sexually active, may be prescribed birth control pills to help regulate their menstrual periods.

Birth control

Any menstruating woman—that is, if she is between puberty and menopause—can become pregnant if she has unprotected sexual intercourse. Therefore, if you're sexually active, it's a good idea to learn about birth control options, emergency contraception and protection from sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Of course, the method of birth control you choose will depend on your individual needs and circumstances. Your doctor, community health nurse, birth control clinic, or local Planned Parenthood can advise you about birth control methods and safer sex.

Safer sex and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections

If you choose to be sexually active, it's important to practice safe sex each and every time you engage in sexual activity. Sexual acts include vaginal and anal intercourse, masturbation, massage, and oral sex. Naturally, the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection depends on the type of behavior in which you engage.

Because sexually transmitted infections are passed from one person to another through bodily fluids such as blood, semen, pre-ejaculatory fluid ("pre-cum"), and vaginal fluids, the two basic rules of preventing sexually transmitted infections—in addition to abstaining from sexual contact altogether—are to avoid exchanging potentially infectious bodily fluids (through the proper use of a condom and/or dental dam and to avoid having sex if one partner has a sore on his or her body.

Regardless of whether you have multiple sex partners or are in a monogamous relationship, you can contract a sexually transmitted infection if you are not practicing safer sex. Be sure to discuss monogamy with your partner: just because you choose to have sex only with your partner, do not assume you're in a monogamous relationship.

Pelvic exams, Pap tests, and breast exams

By the time a woman reaches age 18—or earlier if she becomes sexually active before the age of 18—she should see her doctor for annual pelvic exams. For your exam, you will be asked to undress from the waist down and to lie on a table. You'll be asked to lie down on the examination table and to place your feet in stirrups, allowing your knees to fall to the side. A sheet will cover your legs and stomach. The doctor looks at and feels the reproductive organs, including external genitals, the uterus, Fallopian tubes, bladder, cervix, and ovaries, feeling these organs for any change in their size or shape.

A pelvic exam is often combined with a Pap test. Simple and painless, the Pap test is used to detect abnormal cells in and around the cervix—cells that may indicate cervical cancer or human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection known to be a leading cause of cervical cancer.

Using a speculum to open your vagina will allow your doctor or health care provider to see the upper part of your vagina and cervix and to conduct the Pap test. A wooden spatula and a small brush are used to collect a sample of cells from the cervix and from the upper vagina. This sample is smeared on a glass slide and sent to a medical laboratory to analysis.

Regardless of their age, it?s recommended that women have their breasts examined by a doctor or gynecologist at the very least once every two years. Typically performed by a doctor, nurse practitioner, nurse or doctor?s assistant, clinical breast examinations are performed for the purpose of noting any abnormalities in breast texture. During a CBE, the patient is undressed from the waist up, and the health professional uses the pads of the fingers to palpate the breast, gently feeling for any lumps. Particular attention will be paid to the shape and texture of the breasts, the location of any lumps, and whether such lumps are attached to the skin or to deeper tissues. The area under both arms will also be examined.

Breast health is a very important part of a woman's sexual and reproductive health. The key to effectively treating and hopefully preventing breast cancer is early detection and an awareness of warning signs and symptoms.